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Yes, it is possibly one of the most heart breaking times of the year for anyone of school age. The sickening smell of new school shoes, forgetting how to write, sitting there regarding your new pencil case with nothing but razor sharp contempt, the list of badness could go on for ever.

However at least the parents accross the land parents are collectively breathing a sigh of relief, not having to entertain the little angels 24 hours a day. But there must be a way to keep them occupied in the evening… there simply must!

The answer has just arrived and it’s very inexpensive! Get them a guitar and make it perfectly clear that if they don’t practice for at least one hour a day they’ll never be famous (which is pretty true).

The Encore Classical pack is an ideal way to get introduced to the world of guitar playing.

Complete with gig bag, pitch pipes, spare set of strings and  a tutorial DVD. The guitar itself is a Classical guitar and is perfect for the little beginner, with nylon strings (kind on the fingers) that have slightly higher action than the average steal strung acoustic (great for getting technique upto scratch).

As you can see the guitar is very high quality for the price, quality machine heads, precisely finished frets and a solidly crafted body. This is perfect for the young beginner and a very prudent way to see if your budding Hendrix is really serious about committing before you shell out on an electric guitar and amp.

Goodness me, isn’t it pretty! Yes this is a mandolin and yes it is an Ovation and or course it’s an electro acoustic. Taking the same principles that have been applied to the Ovation guitar series, with the round-back composite body (which has something to do with vibrating helicopter blades and a multi-billion dollar arms company), Ovation have created this cheeky number.

Straight out of the box you are immediately struck by the attention to detail that has clearly been taken in the building of this mandolin, the Ovation principles that hammers and glue made from cows just aren’t good enough shining through. Starting at the headstock, you immediately realise that it’s a mini Ovation guitar headstock with eight open back machineheads. The machineheads have an amazingly smooth action and are clearly made from a good dense metal, sprouting from the macineheads are eight factory fitted D’Adderio coated strings which lay cleanly over the nut and head down the rosewood fretboard.

The fretboard is complimented with 23 highly polished frets and with an action of only 2.5mm at the twelve fret, this mandolin is very forgiving to play. The Spruce top is half obscured by the dark Ruby Red Burst finish, only allowing the wood to shine through about a third of the way into the body. The result of this is a very rich finish and accentuates the leafy Epaulets on the shoulders of the mandolin.

The back of the mandolin is what sets it apart from others. I believe the story behind the composite material goes something like; a couple of cutting edge engineers where designing materials for helicopter blades, when one of them realised (being a guitarist himself) that the adverse effects they were getting from their new materials, the unwanted resonance, would work quite nicely for the body of a guitar. So there you go, high-tech mandolin.

Plugged in, all frequencies are catered for, from the piercing highs that you would expect from a mandolin down to some suprisingly serious lows. These lows have to be attributed to the roundback, as they really are nowhere to be seen in a normal mandolin. Obviously this can be brought back with the OP-24 preamp and can be left in the background as a pleasant warmth, contributing to this mandolins far from standard design and making it a very versatile instrument.

Yes, summer holidays are here now but that’s no excuse to down your new instrument in search of sunchine fun. So, to keep your progress up we’ve put together some essential tuition books that you should’nt miss this summer.

Guitar

The Guitar Music Of Spain Volume 1
A series of three volumes containing the very best of Spanish guitar music.

60’s Guitar Classics
Learn to play 15 classic sixties songs to get you in the summer mood. Featurung tracks from ‘The Who, Jimi Hendrix and the Beatles to name a few.

Acoustic Hits Easy Guitar
Play sixteen all-time greats specially arranged for easy guitar, including Blackbird by the Beatles and Wonderwall by Oasis.

100 Graded Classical Guitar Studies
Edited by Frederick Noad. Music from Carcassi, Sor and Giuliani.

Drums

Workin’ Drums
This collection provides the practicing drummer with a better knowledge of dynamics, form, terminology and overall musicianship.

Xtreme Drums
If you want to spend more time making music and less time bogged down in mind numbing theory, then this book is for you.

The Reading Drummer
This Berklee Workshop contains everything a drummer needs to learn to sight-read drum notation.

Green Day: Drums
Master the powerhouse punk drumming of Green Day tub-thumper Tre Cool

Bass

Slap Bass Lines
Learn the art of creating a solid slap bass groove with this Berklee Workshop.

The Gig Bag Book Of Bass Scales
Over 180 scales at your fingertips, in twelve keys, written in standard notationand tablature with fingering suggestions.

Reggae Bass
Reggae and Jamaican bass styles covering ska, rock steady, roots reggae, club, modern ska, dance hall and more.

Absolute Beginners: Bass Guitar (Compact Edition)
Contains practical advice and tips covering everything you need to know about setting up, playing and maintenance.

Following on from our recent in-stock sales, from today you can re-skin your entire kit and save £’s.

For a couple of weeks we will be selling IN STOCK Remo drum heads at discount prices. To check them out click here, or alternatively check out the hot products displayed on our home page.

REMO drum heads have been around for over 50 years and are well known throughout the drumming cummunity for their durability and ability to make most budget kits sound great!!
If you feel your kit is lacking the sound you’re after then consider upgrading/replacing the heads, you’ll notice the difference.