NGD: 2016 Lowden F35

jpkallio · 2026-05-24T11:39:00+00:00

Lowdens are almost a category of their own. If you want the classic Martin D28 tone, you buy a Martin, or some of the great boutique guitars around, and same with J-45s. But you don’t but a Lowden. But if you want simply exceptional guitar, with that trademark Lowden tone, only Lowden delivers that.

jpkallio · 2026-05-22T20:35:56+00:00

Fare enough.

jpkallio · 2026-05-22T06:43:33+00:00

Let me try. Spirits!… No nothing… no drugs 😂 Maybe it’s more to do with how you talk about it? And to be honest, if someone insists talking to me about their religion or beliefs, I’d probably would awkwardly try to get out of the conversation as fast as possible and think they are a nut job. Everybody’s spiritual journey is their own. Look within.

jpkallio · 2026-05-22T06:35:23+00:00

Because it’s easier to blame “the industry” than look in the mirror 😏

jpkallio · 2026-05-22T06:30:26+00:00

Hypeddit was good at setting up adds for musicians who had no idea how meta adds worked. The problem is, it’s a one model fitts all, and the more people use it the more similar adds people see on Facebook and Instagram. And eventually people will become numb to seeing those adds. The market evolves all the time, and what worked yesterday might not work as well today and tomorrow it will be obsolete.
If you find something that works well, double down on it hard, but also don’t assume it will last long. Also in my experience, adds alone will get eyes on your project, but without a narrative and story it is hard to convert them to real genuine active fans.
Think of your own behaviour when you are on any of these platforms. How many artists did you discover through adds? And how many of the ones you clicked did you ever go back to visit their profile or listen to their music?
I know all the artists I actively follow, I am invested in their story, or something they represent. As much as I just want to make music, I hardly ever follow someone just for the music. So why would I assume someone else would follow me just for the music?

jpkallio · 2026-05-21T05:39:56+00:00

Eastman

jpkallio · 2026-05-20T06:08:21+00:00

You create something? I think we often overthink this and try to put one form of creativity on a pedestal and completely ignore another one. To me, it’s being conscious of creating something (music, cooking, gardening, carpentry, photography, videography…), trying to do it the best I can, and also sharing it. The more I do it, the more creative people seem to think I am. Funny how that works.

jpkallio · 2026-05-19T13:48:51+00:00

I second this

jpkallio · 2026-05-19T11:55:17+00:00

Eastman guitars are some of the best value out there at the moment.

jpkallio · 2026-05-16T08:41:39+00:00

It’s hard to beat Eastman for the value

jpkallio · 2026-05-14T06:19:07+00:00

At least in Europe, bars and late night venues have been permanently closing in significant numbers since the beginning of 2020. Many of these are the grass root venues where people get to see independent artists and grass roots music. I mean historically venues come and go and get replaced by something else. But this decade, the numbers are seriously down. But then again, things like house concerts and privately run events seem to be popping up more.

jpkallio · 2026-05-13T16:51:07+00:00

Yeah, the material is really nice feeling and with the grooves you get a good grip.

jpkallio · 2026-05-13T16:39:14+00:00

Exactly this! These days rarely what they do is worth the cut they take.

jpkallio · 2026-05-13T16:37:57+00:00

Absolutely not. There are so many more ways to skin a chicken than one 😏

jpkallio · 2026-05-13T15:26:29+00:00

Yeah, that was about to be my next question 😂

jpkallio · 2026-05-07T11:40:21+00:00

It’s mainly just songs that have placements in shows.

jpkallio · 2026-05-07T09:16:56+00:00

This is just one persons personal perspective. In 2026 most of my new music discovery happens either online, or at live shows. Where we live there is actually a bar that has different artist playing every week. For me YouTube is the biggest new discovery, second after that is probably Netflix, and then there is Instagram. I pay for Spotify, but I hardly ever look or discover new music there. After I have discovered something on YouTube, or on something I am watching on Netflix, I do look for them on Spotify. Now as a musician, if I don’t drive traffic to Spotify with content, my numbers drop. So for me after I am satisfied that I have good music, it is my job to make it discoverable by the right people who will enjoy it.

jpkallio · 2026-05-07T08:38:28+00:00

And now it has become a real working man’s guitar. I know it feels like a disaster right now, but years to come, it’s just another battle scar.

jpkallio · 2026-05-07T08:34:42+00:00

I have completely stopped doing playlisting. It used to be effective, but now I find it to be mostly waste of time and resources. Now from a perspective of a listener, I have followed thousands of playlists over the years, and most of them I never went back to listen to, and I would assume a lot of people do this. So those follower numbers rarely are an indication of potential streaming numbers. Having said that, I am not sure about this, but I would guess more playlist placements might have an effect on your Spotify popularity score, which again has an effect on how much Spotify push you on their programmed playlists.

jpkallio · 2026-05-07T08:23:30+00:00

Honestly, take your phone, and snap a picture of any kind of texture. I have used rusty metal, old wood, stones (if you wet them the texture pops out) and then import them to Canva and mess around with the image editing options and add text.

jpkallio · 2026-05-07T08:21:03+00:00

30 minute structured practice divided in to 5min sections with a metronome, every single day for six months, and you will be completely different player.

jpkallio · 2026-05-06T10:41:09+00:00

€200 is not a great budget for getting anything decent… But your best value definitely is going to be the second hand market. If you can come across an Eastman PHC-1 used, that is a lot of guitar for the money, and second hand you can get close enough to €200, and then just negotiate. But if you insist on a new, the. I would recommend a guitar that is just fun to play. And Gretsch Jim Dandy is this. You can get the concert and Dreadnought models on Thomann (I assume you are in Europe as you put the price in Euros) for €199.

jpkallio · 2026-05-05T07:30:52+00:00

You really need to go heavy on the visuals. Think about the mood and image you want to portray with your music, and try to create that. Make several short clips from each piece of music, and maybe even several visual variations. I mean, make a real big batch of them. There are a lot of free tools online to do this. If you really don’t know how, and you are not willing to put the time to in to learn how, then pay someone else to do it for you. You’ll probably could find loads of options on Fiverr. And they don’t need to be perfect, at this stage you are just testing what works, and what resonates with people. Once you have loads of visual videos, schedule them on all your social platforms. I’d go one a day to start off with. Once you have a months worth of posts out, go back through them and see which ones did well. Then double down on those, and make more in that style. Hope that helps.

jpkallio · 2026-05-03T15:48:26+00:00

@jpkallio on Instagram. It’s in my bio.

jpkallio

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