My Experience in the Studio

About a year ago, my uncle, Scott Little, asked me to record a solo on one of his newest songs, “This Old Guitar,” appearing on his next country album, “In My Father’s House” (Soon to be widely available

wherever or however you listen to music).

For several weeks before going into the recording studio, I practiced this solo both at home and in my weekly lesson with my guitar instructor, Anthony Pescatore, at the Lake Norman Music School. At

first, I struggled, mostly with the speed and techniques. But thanks to my lessons with Anthony, I quickly learned how to perform the solo.

On June 10th, I travelled to Atlanta to record the part. The studio is called Brighter Shade Studios owned by My Uncle Scott’s friend, John Driskell Hopkins, who everyone calls “Hop". He is the award-winning guitarist for the country band Zac Brown Band. His studio is a cool environment, it is filled with unique instruments, such as a lute, decorations, and awards, including multiple Grammys, which was so cool to see. The whole experience was amazing because Hop, the owner and manager of the studio, is just a great guy, and really knows his stuff.

When we began, I connected my guitar to his computer, which had a lot of extra equipment attached, such as studio speakers and mixer boards and he had me play the solo. After a few attempts, we added some effects to the guitar to make it sound more distorted and stand out from the rest of the music being played. I played the solo until we finally got a take we thought sound-

ed right. We felt it needed a little something more, so he gave me a baritone electric guitar to play, which has a different tuning from a regular guitar. I had to relearn the solo in that tuning and kept playing until we got the perfect take. Hop then layered them together into the song. After putting it

all together, it sounded great. Recording in the studio is a fantastic experience, so if you have any songs you've written that you would like to record, I highly recommend finding your nearest studio. It can be a very fun and exciting time.

Hop even has his own charity, Hop on a Cure. This charity raises money for the research of ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) as he suffers from this disease. You can help support the cause by donating at

hoponacure.org

-  SJ Little

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