Adam Rafferty’s Blog – Guitar and Spirit

Home Studio Gear For Recording Great Sounding Fingerstyle Guitar

I call this an “update” because you may have read my earlier post or seen my videos on recording fingerstyle guitar for Youtube videos.

Here, I will describe my home studio setup with getting a great sound in mind.

Please comment below if you have a suggestion or want to mention your gear – or, especially if anything I am saying is not accurate!

Hey – I just made current, which gives all the details on the gear that I used to record my new CD “Play Pretty for the People.”

If you are thinking about recording at home, you will love this guide. I list my home gear (guitars, strings, software, mics, and more…). Enjoy! 🙂

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Find out what simple (and affordable) equipment I use at home to record to get a CD quality fingerstyle guitar sound.

Get the Free PDF – Instantly!

The Attitude

All kinds of gear sounds great for fingerstyle guitar. There are many ways to do record it, mine is just one…here goes.

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7 Tips for Making a Great Fingertsyle Guitar Recording (and…it’s not about the equipment!)

By Adam Rafferty 20 Comments

I just had the pleasure of spending some time in my home studio recording a few solo tunes.

During the past few days I have experienced the range of emotions from elation to frustration, mainly with my own guitar playing.

I’d like to share some insights with you. The following applies to do-it-yourself home recordings as well as sessions where you go to a pro studio.

How a Digital Diet Can Make You a Happier Person

By Adam Rafferty 11 Comments

HI Gang!

For those of you who are tech junkies, I’d like to tell of my journey on “the other side.”

The following negative experience had a very profoundly positive effect on my music and concentration.

On March 7, 2013 I was robbed while on tour. My backpack with my laptop and many other personal items was suddenly gone.

2 hours before a concert I had to freeze bank accounts, close credit cards and change passwords to 15 websites in a flash, because like an idiot I had no master password on the machine. The stress was terrible!

Yet…the strangest thing happened about 10 days after the theft.

10 Tips for Healthy Guitar Practicing

By Adam Rafferty 130 Comments

I’m gonna give you some straight talk about practicing guitar and taking good care of your body and hands.

This is especially relevant today since so many people are self taught from videos and don’t have a real life teacher for feedback.

The “He / She Never Stops Practicing” Myth – Debunked!

One of the favorite “myths” that fans and students hold in mind is that “great musicians practice 24 hours a day, to the exclusion of everything else and that’s why they are so good!”

People always ask me how “many hours a day I practice” and I see that they are living exactly this fantasy of “wow you are a dedicated artist who practices all the time!”

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6 Pieces of Guitar Gear I Can’t Live Without

By Adam Rafferty 30 Comments

Hey Gang!

I was just peeking through the mountain of “Fanbridge” questions that I have, and I came across a recurring theme…

Question: “Adam what guitar/strings/gear do you use?”

I get asked about this 10 times a week.

With the “mountain” of gear that one sees in catalogs & stores it is easy to get confused.

Since I carry most of my stuff myself (no car – yep, I’m a New York guy), it has to be portable, easy, and sound great.

All of what I am listing fits in a backpack (except the guitars), and I am ready to play any size concert hall or festival.

Keep in mind, this list WILL change, and “there is more than one way to do it” – but this has been working for me.

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