Janek Gwizdala Podcast

This week was quite the whirlwind trip to Germany for the 2024 Guitar Summit in Mannheim. I met some amazing people, was treated to a fantastic audience and set of questions at my clinic, and made some awesome new friends.

Big announcement coming in a couple of days, so stay tuned for that!

More soon,

Janek

We somehow made it to 300 episodes of the podcast since 2006 or 2007. It's so long ago, I don't actually remember exactly when I hit upload on podbean for the first time.

To celebrate, I answered as many questions you all submitted as I could, and it was awesome to hear from you and a challenge to think about the answers. Here's to 300 more! 🎊

Janek

We get into the weeds on the latest pedalboard build, and talk about what a disaster these projects can start life as. I'm getting ready to go to Europe to give a clinic on pedals, so this board has a little bit more pressure on it as it'll be heavily scrutinized by the audience.

If you end up watching this on YouTube, the video cut out a few minutes in and I didn't notice until about the 10 minute mark. I shot some b-roll after the fact to go along with what I was talking about, and I do eventually notice and figure it out in time to save the episode.

More soon,

Janek

I think the short answer to the question is yes!

It's totally possible to be a recording artist, but the bigger question is how?

As my debut album Mystery To Me turns 20 this year, I have a little bit of experience in this area to share, and today we get into exactly what it means to be a recording artist in 2024 and beyond.

I’m very excited to have found the sessions from two decades ago and will be remixing, remastering, and for the first time in my career pressing vinyl for this 20th anniversary release.

There will be new artwork and packaging, as well as two bonus tracks of takes we did after the audience had left the studio. Yes, this was a live album! Live in the studio, but live none the less. A small audience assembled on November 4th 2004, and we played the album from top to bottom in one take.

Check out the episode, drop some comments on the youtube video to both give me feedback on the vinyl thing, and of course to help the algorithm.

More soon,

Janek

I thought this would be one of the easiest Epsisodes/videos to make.

Rock up to my computer, import Ian’s presets, play music, talk, done.

The reality was actually quite different. There was real pressure to “get it right” for want of a better phrase.

This was meant to be my take on the sounds, my opinion for whatever it’s worth, and just some fun seeing where the presets would take me.

But shortly after hitting the record button I started over-thinking things and realizing I was putting pressure on myself to know what each sound was made up of just by listening, and to try and do the sounds justice.

I eventually got the heart rate down a little and settled into simply enjoying the sounds and making music, and hopefully that is ultimately what comes across.

If you want to download any of the sounds you hear in the episode you get get Ian’s HERE and mine HERE.

More soon,

Janek

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It is both an amazing feeling to find something new in the learning process, and a kick in the gut when you realize you should have been doing it for 30 years already.

I recently started exploring a new approach for learning music that seems to be working better than anything I've tried in the past, allowing me to add vocabulary to my language faster than before, and most importantly embed it deep into the muscle memory and sub-conscious so I never forget it.

More soon,

Janek

Bass players of the world,

It is with great joy that I get to share my latest round of HX Stomp presets with you, and I cannot wait to hear what you do with them.

With options for everything from film score to funk, there’s a little something for every player.

The biggest challenge in putting them together was trying to take myself out of the equation and think about how people from all walks of the bass world might want to use them.

Obviously they’re all inspired by things quite personal to me, but at the same time I think they can be easily customized, and I look forward to working with people on ways to bend them into exactly what it is YOU need.

Reach out in the comments on YouTube so as many people as possible can share in the information that comes up in our conversations, and I’ll post some more sound samples and ideas with the presets soon.

Janek

P.S. If you don’t have the original Janek Gwizdala Signature Sound pack, you can get that and the new release in a single bundle and save 25%!

Just in case you thought I’d come up with some formula that allows you to spend hardly any time with your instrument and become a monster player… I didn’t.

By practicing less I mean practicing less ideas at any given time. There is still no substitute for time spent with the instrument, and as I explain what it is I’m working on in this episode, it might come as a surprise to you as to how basic some of the stuff is after all these years of work on the craft.

In other news I have to update you on the progress with bringing back the vlog, but that will have to wait until next week. This week however, we could see a live stream for the first time in months to test out a new content concept I’m working on.

Maybe tomorrow morning…? Keep your eyes peeled to your email.

More soon,

Janek

For pedal fans and signal chain nerds, mono vs stereo is going to come up once in a while and it's a tough call to make when you consider the incredible options available today to widen your sound. From reverbs and delays to all kinds of modulation and panning effects, there is an almost infinite library to draw inspiration from.

The more real-life questions for gigging musicians are:

* Do you really want to carry two sets of cabinets and two amps with you?

* Are you willing to use in-ear monitors as a lighter/more portable option?

* Maybe you've never even considered some of the benefits of running effects in stereo when you play live, so you’re asking yourself “wtf is all this about?!”

This episode of the podcast is a nerdy deep dive on a few of the things I'm looking at incorporating into a stereo rig to tour with my own band, that’s not going to weigh 800lbs or take three hours to set up every night!

We’re going to feature some sounds in the HX Stomp throughout the episode and I know I promised the new pack of presets months ago.

It is on its way! I just want it to be right before I put it out into the world. In the meantime, the Janek Gwizdala “Signature Pack” is still available, and for everyone who asks about crossover between the old and new: There will be nothing from the old pack in the new one. It will be 100% new sounds.

That’s probably why it’s taking so long.

I appreciate your patience.

More soon,

Janek

This episode of the podcast gives an in-depth look into the new mini touring bass pedalboard for my show in Morocco with the Brecker Brothers next week.

It's small but mighty, and ended up being something completely different from what I imagined it would be.

The signal chain includes the MXR Vintage Bass Octave, MXR Bass Envelope Filter, Line6 HX Stomp and MXR Bass Preamp. It’s all mounted on a small board by Mono, powered by a Cioks 4, and will travel in a Mono Tick 2.0 bag.

Enjoy!

Janek