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For the next 48hrs we’re having a sale on selected items. This is your opportunity to grab an absolute bargain as we slash the prices considerably on selected items. Including Pearl Drum Kits, Zildjian Cymbals and other top brands.

Check the home page Hot Products and visit the special offers section here for these limited special offer offers.

Now we’re all full up on Turkey and pudding, it’s time to shop from the warm comfort of your recliner and make the most of our January sale….

Check out our special offer page here for some eye-watering cheap deals on selected products….. and if you fancy getting the best savings out of next Christmas, check out our crackers whilst we still have ‘em.

It’s that time of year again when children make their way, often unwillingly, back to school.

Here at Playrecord we have compiled some great products ideal for children’s return to school and listed them on our front page Hot Product section, all at fantastic special offer prices!

Firstly we have 2 beginner guitars both at amazingly low special prices! One is a full size classical guitar, the other is a ½ sized guitar ideal for the young beginner.

Also included in our current Hot Products is the Pure Tone: Kids Descant Recorder. This is a great starter record for children available in 3 great colours. Traditional brown, pink and blue. To accompany this we have the Recorder From The Beginning : Pupil’s Book 1 (2004 Edition). This is one of the most successful recorder tutor books used by many teachers.

Other items in our back to school bonanza are some various musical designed stationary including the very popular amazing colour-changing mood pencils! Have a scroll through our gift section for all our stationary items.

With The Harvest Festival also approaching, We have include some of the most popular Harvest Festival celebration teachers books and accompanying CD’s, again at special discounted prices!

Cheers.

Les Paul, creator of the world famous Les Paul electric guitars dies at the age of 94. His legend will live on throughout the world for as long as a guitarist picks up and plays one of his designs.

Can you imagine Slash, cigarette in mouth, thrashing out with the jazzy tones of a fender telecaster?… And Joe perry, propping-up Steven Tylor with a 1/2 size classical?…no. Would it be fair to say that the Gibson Les Paul was so good, it became more of an icon than the rock god playing it?

Once again it’s that time of the year. You dig out your tent, remove the beanfeast that’s somehow got into the corner of your sleeping bag, and prepare for some weekends of music and hippy-ness out in some fields away from the buzz of modern-day living….ahh back to our roots!

So whilst your still in the modern-day mentality, taker some thought into what your going to need for those late night camp fire drinking sessions. We have recently taken on a new supplier of authentic hand-made African percussion. From small egg shakers, to some thumping full-size djembe’s, we now cater for all. So before you hike off into the country this summer check out our new ‘World Percussion’ in the Drums/Percussion category and I’m sure you’ll find something suitable for the camp-fire entertainment.

Happy Festival…’ing

When its really sunny like this weekend is looking to be.. you can put down your electric guitar and forget about sitting inside. Grab the acoustic or classical, plus a cold beverage of your choice and preferably some form of recliner or hammock – heck whatever you want.. then chill with your six string in the sun.

There are enough guitars available to buy at the moment to make a… erm.. grown guitarist cry (yes, that’ll do). With China, Korea, Japan, Vietman, Korea, well pretty much the entire far east spewing out ever cheaper guitars and competing over quality, it certainly is a buyers market. Below I’m going to outline a couple of these brands and hopefully shed a little light over what you’re going to get for your money.

Encore Guitars

Encore guitars have long been the staple diet of the beginner guitarist, the low price and very well put together guitar packs as the main attractions. Also it’s worth mentioning that Encore are in the midst of an overhaul and are upgrading all the hardware on their guitars, but keeping the prices the same. Encore’s main sellers as far as beginner packs are concerned would be the Encore Playnow Packs, which are available in guitar and bass versions and also the classical guitar packs which are available from half size to full size. These guitar packs are perfect for beginners and bedroom players, though they are lacking in the quality of output needed for gigs, so if you’re thinking of performing you may want to jump up a notch.

Stagg Guitars

Stagg guitars are in a similar league to Encore, however it has to be said that they seem to be generally better finished than the Encore. A bit more attention has been given to small things like paint finish and seating the frets, which make the guitars a little more comfortable to play and easy on the eye. When it comes to guitar packs though the the Encore packs come with a good quality Kustom amp which are marginally better quality than the Stagg amps. So it’s up to you whether you’d prefer the better quality amp or guitar.

Stagg unlike Encore, does deviate from the Les Paul and Strat ’style’ guitars in their electric range, with semi acoustics and various shapes of electrics such as the flying V shape F300-MA.

Vintage Guitars

Not actual vintage guitars (as in old) but Vintage the brand! These are the next logical step up the ladder from Stagg and Encore, the most notable difference being the Wilkinson branded hardware. This hardware is generally very well machined and will definitely stand the test of time. Also that ‘quality of output’ needed for gigs I mentioned earlier is provided by the Wilkinson branded pickups, which give you that punchy more professional edge. So as the next level up, I would categorise the Vintage range as ‘entry level gigging guitars’. After this I think you’ll be entering a different realm of guitar price, which I will be talking about in the near future.

Merry Christmas and of course a Happy New Year to you all, and as we enter the new year we have started dropping more prices across all our lines. All IN STOCK items over the course of the next week will be on sale at great prices all the way to the end of January. Of course we will still be competitive on price after the sale, but if you want a crazy bargain then you must check out our special offers page….these items won’t stay around for long and will be updated daily!

Happy Shopping!

Howdy folks! Christmas is coming up quickly and if you, like me no matter what I say every year leave all shopping to the last minute, then it’s time to get it done! …. no Christmas eve – impulse buy – petrol-station gifts this year!

We have been adding products to the special offer page for a few days now and there’s some cracking deals. A couple of my favourites are the two Pearl kits, these are at an exceptionally good price for the standard of kit you are getting (read my Pearl blog for more info). Of course, we have great deals for guitarist’s; acoustic, electric and basses hugely discounted. Many small accessories have been dropped in price, quite a few useful cables and all those little plugs and adaptors you didn’t realise you needed.

As we are getting so close to Christmas, to guarantee your delivery in time give us a call to check stock availability or alternatively check the product your looking at, as they will say ‘in stock – next day delivery’

Happy Shopping!

It’s that time again, Festival season. So i thought a quick list of some up-coming events you can’t miss this year would come in handy.

Sunrise Celebration 2008 / 29 May 2008 – 01 Jun 2008
Bearley Farm, Somerset UK

Middlesbrough Music Live 2008 / 01 Jun 2008
Middlesbrough Town Centre, UK

Hampton Court Palace Festival 2008 / 03 Jun 2008 – 21 Jun 2008
Hampton Court Palace, UK (Jools holland, Marc Almond, Van morrison and more)

New Generation Arts Festival 2008 / 05 Jun 2008 – 20 Jun 2008
Various venues aound Birmingham, West Midlands, GB

Rock Ness 2008 / 07 Jun 2008 – 08 Jun 2008
Dores, Loch Ness, UK

Future Perfect / 08 Jun 2008
Durham University Racecourse, Green Lane, Durham

Grassington Festival 2008 / 13 Jun 2008 – 28 Jun 2008
Grassington, Wharfedale, North Yorkshire (top line up including The Ukulele orchestra of great britian and the BBC Big Band)

Download 2008 / 13 Jun 2008 – 15 Jun 2008
Donington Park, UK (expect to see The Offspring, Lost Prophets and KISS)

Glastonbury Festival 2008 / 26 Jun 2008 – 29 Jun 2008
Worthy Farm, Pilton (Jay-Z and Kings of Leon headlining)

This is just a shortlist of some of the many amazing events going on this year that the PlayRecord team recommend.

And, of course, don’t forget to take your festival guitar and tambourine for the late night entertainment round the campfire…….oh, and maybe some wellies just in case ; )

Further Reading
Promo Video for Sunrise Celebration
Sunrise Celebration
Middlesbrough Music Live 2008
Birmingham summer festivals round-up
New Generation Arts Festival
Rock Ness
Fatboy Slim at Rock Ness
Future Perfect
GLASTONBURY FESTIVAL – WHY ARE PEOPLE SNUBBING THE MUD?
Jay-z Addresses Glastonbury Festival Controversy
Glastonbury 2008 weather forecast
Full Glastonbury Lineup