Sidingsound

Now play this

Well, that audio processing is still going on, so while I'm waiting some more...

Have you discovered the Web site Now Play It? The concept is simple: take some well-known pop and rock songs (both old and new), and sell video downloads teaching you how to play them.

So far so good—music tutor videos have been around almost as long as the home video concept itself—but I think what makes Now Play It a bit more special, is that the Internet and modern audio/video production methods make it possible to produce these videos and get them out to the audience much more quickly. In other words, the tutorials can cover songs which have barely dropped out of the charts, whereas tutor DVDs might be months behind the times, if not more.

What's more, NPI have managed to get some of the artists who produced the original tracks, to present the tutorials themselves, and it's here where for me, it gets really interesting. You can have members of Supergrass coaching you through some of their back catalogue; KT Tunstall showing you her guitar chops on "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" and others; Graham Coxon (ex-Blur) doing much the same (on his songs, obviously)...

...and lastly (and most pertinently for me): Sir Paul himself, giving us a full-blown multi-instrumental (guitars, bass, drums) lesson on one of the better songs from "Memory Almost Full", "Ever Present Past".

Quite aside from me seriously considering stumping up the readies for Macca's video tutorial, Now Play It has got me thinking: with YouTube and mobile phone video output getting better and cheaper all the time, why aren't more musicians providing this kind of interaction with their fans? I'd consider doing this for my own works, although I admit I've got to build up a few fans first...

So, if I end up posting a video tutorial for "Sidings and branches" or something, you'll know where the idea came from. You read it here first.

Labels: music, nowplayit, recording, web, youtube

posted by Tim @ 23:37