Gear Acquisition Syndrome

Gear Acquisition Syndrome, also known as GAS, is commonly understood as the musicians unrelenting urge to buy and own instruments and equipment as an anticipated catalyst of creative energy and bringer of happiness. For many musicians, it involves the unavoidable compulsion to spend money one does not have on gear perhaps not even needed. The urge is directed by the belief that acquiring another instrument will make one a better player. This book pioneers research into the complex phenomenon named GAS from a variety of disciplines, including popular music studies and music technology, cultural and leisure studies, consumption research, sociology, psychology and psychiatry. The newly created theoretical framework and empirical studies of online communities and offline music stores allow the study to consider musical, social and personal motives, which influence the way musicians think about and deal with equipment. As is shown, GAS encompasses a variety of practices and psychological processes. In an often life-long endeavour, upgrading the rig is accompanied by musical learning processes in popular music.

The author of Create presents “an all-in-one, easily accessible handbook . . . [that] will show you how the pros do it. Study this and take your best shot” (Chase Jarvis, award-winning photographer). In Advancing Your Photography, Marc Silber provides the definitive handbook that will take you through the entire process of becoming an accomplished photographer. From teaching you the basics to exploring the stages of the full “cycle of photography,” Silber makes it easy for you to master the art form and create stunning pictures. From thousands of hours of interviews with professional photography masters, you will learn valuable insights and tips on beginner, amateur, landscape, wedding, lifestyle, sports, animal, portrait, still life, and iPhone photography. Advancing Your Photography features: · Top tips for making outstanding photographs from iconic photographers and many other leading professional photography masters of today · Numerous step-by-step examples · Guidance on training your eye to see composition with emotional impact · Tips on mastering the key points of operating your camera like a pro · Secrets to processing your images to professional standards Photography and the technology associated with it are constantly evolving, but the fundamentals remain the same. Advancing Your Photography will help to bring you the joy and satisfaction of a lifetime of pursuing the art of photography.

The Stratocaster. The Telecaster. During the quarter-century following World War II, Fender guitars didn't just make music. They made musical history. Those spectacular years are remembered and celebrated in this definitive new book, which tells the story of the Fender company and the wondrous instruments it created. Featuring 250 photographs of Fender guitars-including some extremely rare guitars in private collections-as well as the largest collection of Fender advertising ever assembled, this gorgeously designed volume is a comprehensive account of Fender's golden age. It will be irresistible to anyone interested in guitars, rock 'n' roll, or mid-century American collectibles and ephemera. Like the guitars it documents, the book simply brings down the house.

This volume documents the 19th edition of the biannual "International Association for the Study of Popular Music". In focus of the conference were present and future developments. For example, the diminishing income potential for musicians as well as the recording industry as a whole, concurrent with the decreasing relevance of popular music in youth culture. This is where computer games and social media come to the forefront. At the same time, the research of popular music has emancipated itself from its initial outsider.

"Guitars inspire cult-like devotion: an afficionado can tell you precisely when and where their favorite instruments were made. And she will likely also tell you about the wood they were made from and its unique effects on the instruments' sound. In Following Guitars, Chris Gibson and Andrew Warren trace guitars all the way back to the tree. It is a book about musical instrument making, the timbers and trees from which guitars are made. It chronicles the authors' journeys across the world, to guitar festivals, factories, remote sawmills, Indigenous lands, and distant rainforests, in search of the behind-the-scenes stories of how guitars are made, where the much-cherished guitar timbers ultimately come from, and the people and skills involved along the way. The authors are able to unlock insights on longer arcs of world history: on the human exploitation of nature, colonialism, industrial capitalism, and cultural change. They end on a parable of wider resonance: of the incredible but unappreciated skill and care that goes into growing and felling trees, milling timber, and making enchanted musical instruments; set against the human tendency to reform our use (and abuse) of natural resources only when it appears too late"--

Skylum’s Luminar 4 is a great solution for both professional and amateur photographers who want to quickly create stunning photos. Luminar’s advanced AI-based tools eliminate hours of traditional editing tasks, whether you’re applying automatic tone and color adjustments, replacing dreary skies with more dynamic ones, or retouching portraits to smooth skin, remove blemishes, and accentuate flattering facial features. For those who want to dig into editing, powerful tools give you full control over your RAW and JPEG images, including advanced features such as layers, masks, blend modes, and lens correction. Luminar also works as a plug-in for other applications, such as Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom Classic, and Apple Photos, allowing round-trip editing and seamless integration with workflows you may already have in place.

Luminar 4 is deceptively deep, and in The Photographer’s Guide to Luminar 4, photographer Jeff Carlson helps you discover Luminar 4’s best features to take full advantage of the program for all your photography needs. From importing your images to editing, managing, and exporting your files, Jeff showcases the power, precision, and control of Luminar while teaching you to work quickly and efficiently. In this book, he walks you through real-world landscape and portrait edits, and covers every tool and feature with the goal of helping you understand how to make Luminar improve your images.

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The touchstone for contemporary stargazers. This classic, groundbreaking guide has been the go-to field guide for both beginning and experienced amateur astronomers for nearly 30 years. The fourth edition brings Terence Dickinson and Alan Dyer's invaluable manual completely up-to-date. Setting a new standard for astronomy guides, it will serve as the touchstone for the next generation of stargazers as well as longtime devotees. Technology and astronomical understanding are evolving at a breathtaking clip, and to reflect the latest information about observing techniques and equipment, this massively revised and expanded edition has been completely rebuilt (an additional 48 pages brings the page count to 416). Illustrated throughout with all-new photographs and star charts, this edition boasts a refreshed design and features five brand-new chapters, including three essential essays on binocular, telescope and Moon tours by renowned astronomy writer Ken Hewitt-White. With new content on naked-eye sky sights, LED lighting technology, WiFi-enabled telescopes and the latest advances in binoculars, telescopes and other astronomical gear, the fourth edition of The Backyard Astronomer's Guide is sure to become an indispensable reference for all levels of stargazers. New techniques for observing the Sun, the Moon and solar and lunar eclipses are an especially timely addition, given the upcoming solar eclipses in 2023 and 2024. Rounding out these impressive offerings are new sections on dark sky reserves, astro-tourism, modern astrophotography and cellphone astrophotography, making this book an enduring must-have guide for anyone looking to improve his or her astronomical viewing experience. The Backyard Astronomer's Guide also features a foreword by Dr. Sara Seager, a Canadian-American astrophysicist and planetary scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and an internationally recognized expert in the search for exoplanets.

A deluxe photographic celebration of the unsung hero of guitar music—the effects pedal—featuring interviews with 100 musicians including Peter Frampton, Joe Perry, Jack White, and Courtney Barnett. Ever since the Sixties, fuzz boxes, wah-wahs, phase shifters, and a vast range of guitar effects pedals have shaped the sound of music as we know it. Stompbox: 100 Pedals of the World’s Greatest Guitarists is a photographic showcase of the actual effects pedals owned and used by Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan, Frank Zappa, Alex Lifeson, Andy Summers, Eric Johnson, Adrian Belew, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Ed O’Brien, J Mascis, Lita Ford, Joe Perry, Thurston Moore, Lee Ranaldo, Vernon Reid, Kaki King, Nels Cline and 82 other iconic and celebrated guitarists. These exquisitely textured fine-art photographs are matched with fresh, insightful commentary and colorfulroad stories from the artists themselves, who describe how these fascinating and often devilish devices shaped their sounds and songs.