Hi everybody,
Of course I'm a very enthusiastic go player and I am trying to get better but...it's only my hobby.

For the last 2 to 3 years I have been working hard on my real dream, which is to be a singer-songwriter.

I can sing, but I'm classically trained, and so it's been difficult to find a workable style for the kind of folk-rock that I write, and I've been learning guitar from the ground up. I've had a lot of interesting experiences performing live, including being in festivals and rigged game shows, and have met some amazing people along the way.

Recently, I've spent most of my time working hard on my technique, as my first 18 months of playing live only taught me how much I have yet to learn, but I feel I am getting close to being able to campaign again.

So, to cut to the chase: I would like to set up a website to sell and give away my music, and to promote my events. Unfortunately, I'm pretty useless with computers.

Up to now, I have had a myspace page and a Soundclick page, but to be honest I've been disappointed with the results. You can sell music on Soundclick, but it's a bit like having a tiny stall in a massive marketplace where the only other people browsing are your competitors.

At the moment I am using http://www.tamisongs.wordpress.com but I only have the basic account, and I don't know how to set up a music player and other interesting features.

If anybody is willing to help me, please get in touch at threecoloursjones@gmail.com Perhaps we can make some kind of mutually beneficial arrangement - if you're weaker than 2k then I could teach you go, and if you would like to learn Japanese via Skype then that's another possibility (I have JLPT N2). Actually, I could also teach you guitar by Skype as well. Of course, you'll also get to hear my latest tracks hot off my DAW!

Looking forward to hearing from you!

Tami

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Learn the "tea-stealing" tesuji! Cho Chikun demonstrates here:

Hi Tami,

Could you be a little more specific about what you need?
I believe someone might be able to help. I've never worked with wordpress before, but setting that up sounds like a couple of hours for anyone who has some experience with it.

Hi, upWarrior.

Things I would like to have are:

Clear Sections: A page about me, a shop, a gallery, a visitor`s book, a music player, a blog
Donation Button: so well-wishers can help me to buy music lessons, scores, guitars, amps, cables, put on shows, etc.
Giveaways: A section where I can offer free downloads of songs that I choose to give away

I would like things to be simple, easy to navigate, and have a classic, rather than "trendy" look. That said, I have a bit of a sun fetish, so a perhaps a mildly solar theme to the page would be appropriate.

In my shop, I would like to sell MP3s, T-shirts and mugs with my logo, and so on.

While I think of it, I would welcome anybody who could help me to produce a professional-looking image file of my logo (which is basically a yellow sun with a quaver in the middle of it).

Basically, I especially need help with visual presentation and design. I`m good at writing songs, but I`m hopeless at everything else. But, since I`m neither young nor pretty, finding a suitable "look" for my website is particularly crucial so as to avoid looking desperately amateurish.

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Learn the "tea-stealing" tesuji! Cho Chikun demonstrates here:

A simple design can put buttons in a top row (does not even need frames or tables!) and contents below. Buttons are easy: A symbol picture associated with a link to one of your central pages (such as Info, Songs, Downloads). To avoid an amateurish look, put a background image or colour behind the contents.

Simple navigation relies on simple technology, for which you get easy webpage editors (for example, Kompozer): You can use good old HTML without JavaScript. As soon as you want interactive contents like a music player, avoiding usage of script language becomes hard.

Thanks for that Robert.

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Learn the "tea-stealing" tesuji! Cho Chikun demonstrates here:

Maybe you should try doing a kickstarter project for making an album of your music.
http://www.kickstarter.com/

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http://tchan001.wordpress.com
A blog on Asian go books, go sightings, and interesting tidbits
Go is such a beautiful game.

I won't be able to help you because design is my weak spot.

Even though I understand Robert's proposal, I believe that redirecting you to a couple of Content Management Systems (CMS) might be the best way to get you started. (though I still hope a good soul will show up in the mean while)

1. Can't you configure word press to fit your needs? They have plugins for everything, and I'm sure you would find a theme you like.
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/

2. You can also try drupal. I believe it's one of the best choices for what you need. http://drupal.org/

If you haven't already seen it, you might be very interested in Bandcamp. I've heard a lot of good things about it and, though I'm not a musician myself, I know people that actually host their stuff there. They make it very easy to sell your music but, anecdotally, seem more popular than soundclick so you might avoid the competitors-only effect. I think you also get your own page/url with some customisation ability.

i would love to help!
i develop web pages professionally for the government, but i could definitely do a charity bit.
contact me at phillip1882@yahoo.com.

Thank you to everybody who has responded so far!

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Learn the "tea-stealing" tesuji! Cho Chikun demonstrates here:

It may be a shot in the dark, but you may strike gold on Reddit.

I second Bandcamp. There's not much point to having your own website, indeed Bandcamp is what everyone would expect you to have.

Hi again,
I`m still exploring websites and bandcamp and other suggestions.

In the meantime, I have created a few products on CafePress, showing my "Sun Note" logo. Maybe you will like the logo enough to buy a T-shirt or mug from me

http://www.cafepress.com/tamijonesmusicshop

If you have any suggestions for improving my logo (I`m not a graphic designer, so am learning as I go), then I`m all ears. Thanks!

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Learn the "tea-stealing" tesuji! Cho Chikun demonstrates here:

I don't have really good tips, because I never got into promoting myself seriously.

When it comes to guitar technique and practice, I can surely recommend guitar heaven (but there is a monthly fee) - http://www.guitarmasterclass.net Lately the content became heavier, but all in all there are hundreds of lessons, and the forum is very active and helpful.

I heard many good things about Youtube promotion, some people really became successful basing on Youtube.
One of them is "The Monkey Lord" - Rob Chappers.
Often guitar players start by recording some lessons for other people and when they obtain a base of viewers start to promote their own stuff more. But I think that success on Youtube depends on many marketing skills, not only content of Your work (check some of Rob Chappers videos to see what I am talking about).
Of course some people made it without much video/marketing stuff, for example another Youtuber Colin John Rudd (youtube account colinjohnrudd) basically records himself playing songs, and he have a big fanbase, still it is quite possible that he is so known because he uses Tolkien songs often adding his own great compositions to them.

In the electric guitar world youtube is a powerful tool, if You have a big fanbase, You can get endorsements from guitar related companies, be given gear to review it, be given gear and be able to organize competition with prizes etc..

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Formerly Gorim