Resources and Tips - Sam Newton

What is Australian Americana Music? According to the newly launched Americana Music Association of Australia, Australian Americana music builds on established definitions of the genre and “melds them with aspects of uniquely Australian sounds, stories and lyrical content, often influenced by our history, people and place in the world.” fyi: Americana is contemporary music that incorporates elements of various American roots music styles, including country, […]

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Jan 25 2016

Tamworth Country Music Festival 2016 Wrap-up

Musings, Performances, Resources and Tips

Yesterday, I returned home from the Tamworth Country Music Festival. This was my second time attending Tamworth, with the last one being in 2011. This year’s festival was filled with its fair share of highs and lows but for the most part, I had an incredible time. I met countless amounts of new people and talented fellow-musicians who I am

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Marketing Your Live Gig - A reflection by Sam Newton

Jun 27 2014

‘Marketing Your Live Gig 101’ – a reflection

Musings, Resources and Tips, Reviews

On Wednesday 25/6/14, I attended a free for members event organised by the Australasian Performing Rights Association (APRA) titled ‘Marketing Your Live Gig 101‘. Due to afternoon/evening private teaching commitments in previous years, this was my first time attending one of APRA’s events. So before I outline the night, let me just say how happy I am to have a service like

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Mar 28 2014

How to Change Your Guitar Strings + Gigs, Recording Updates

Performances, Resources and Tips

A couple of days ago when one of my acoustic strings broke, I felt it a perfect opportunity to record a video lesson on how to change strings on a Steel String Acoustic Guitar. I was going make a post with extra written information to accompany the video, however it ended up being so long and in-depth that I don’t

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Feb 12 2014

5 Essential iPad Apps for Practicing and Performing Musicians

Gear, Resources and Tips

Last Christmas (I gave you my heart… jokes), I received an iPad Air from my amazing partner, Gilly. I know that I’m a little late to the tablet party, but I had been waiting around for a particular mixture in design and hardware that was slick, light and powerful. For me, this was Apple’s latest offering. Due to the enormous

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Jan 14 2014

How to make DIY Vinyl Storage

Gear, Musings, Resources and Tips

Towards the end of last year while I was overseas, my housemate sent me a message to notify me that he had brought his grandma’s record player home… I didn’t know how to react. While I was really exciting about the prospect of delving into the wonderful world of vinyl, I also knew that it would mean the beginnings of

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Jul 8 2013

My DIY IKEA Gorm Pedalboard

Gear, Musings, Resources and Tips

You know those things that we intend to do, but don’t often get around to doing? Those tasks that slowly eat away at both our sanity and patience until we finally reach a point where we say “no more”? If you don’t know what I mean, see the following video: httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E9tRGMBGzNs Recently, on a return trip from the Blue Mountains

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Mar 14 2013

A Beginner Guitar Lesson

Resources and Tips, Teaching

Lately, all of my posts have been about gig and website updates. This is only great as a sometimes thing… So I figure, it’s time to give something back. In addition to performing on stage and practicing in my bedroom, I also teach guitar privately and have been doing so for about 8 years. In fact, that’s my main source

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May 27 2012

Site Updates and Classical Repertoire…

Musings, News and Updates, Resources and Tips

Greetings! My writing of this post represents something great…It represents my intention to maintain this blog as something constant. Let’s set ourselves a goal of maybe 3-4 times a week? Yeah? Yeah. Moving on.. As of late, I’ve been slaving away on my Vodafone iPhone-tethered internet to get this website int0 some kind of presentable shape. I’ve added pages, content

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