There are many different types of craft materials
What is craft?
Craft is about making things. It is an thoughtful and physical activity where the maker explores the infinite possibilities of materials and processes to produce unique objects.
Having a craft as a hobby is to enter a world of wonderful things which can be challenging, beautiful, sometimes useful, extraordinary, and helps you to understand and enjoy the care which has gone into their making.
As either a perfectionist that strives to make a sound as close to studio quality as possible, or a guitarist in a band aiming to make your image and performing style as similar to your music as possible, you’ll want the best suited guitar.
At Hobby Umbrella, we looked into which guitars suit some of the music styles out there, and give two suggestions, each adapted to either end of a price range.
Indie
Indie music requires guitar versatility that isn’t common in other styles. Most songs often combine a blend of clean sounding chord work, and more high gain distorted riffs or melodies.
You’ll want a guitar that is capable of producing a good sound on both channels, and is well suited to a variety of amplifiers. There are plenty to choose from, that cater for varying price ranges.
Low price suggestion – Fender Squier Stratocaster.
Cost – around £91 for guitar alone, bundle packs approx £110 depending on retailer.
Image Courtesy – Fender.
High end suggestion – Gibson ES 335.
Cost – Around £2000.
Image Courtesy – Gibson
Metal
If you’re a metal guitar player you’re probably looking for one thing and one thing only, a good distorted sound.
Luckily, there are quite a few brands that specialise in making guitars optimised for metal and hard rock music. These guitars are extremely versatile, can adapt to different tunings easily and go well with effects pedals.
Low price suggestion – Ibanez GSA60
Cost – around £160.
Image Courtesy – Ibanez.
High end suggestion – Gibson Explorer.
Cost – approximately £3000 new.
Image Courtesy – Gibson.
Blues
Blues music has a huge guitar playing community, as many blues players play along to backing tracks by themselves, and lots of others play in bands.
A good blues guitar must have a variety of talents, it must be able to play grungy low scales as well as solos and riffs higher up the fretboard. Many blues players opt for guitars with ‘Humbucker’ pick ups as opposed to single coil to create a more full and warmer sound.
Humbucker pick up. Image Courtesy – Seymour Duncan.
Low price suggestion – Epiphone Les Paul Standard.
Cost – Around £300.
Image Courtesy – Epiphone.
High end suggestion – Fender Telecaster.
Cost – Anything from £300+. Highly dependant on model and age.
Image Courtesy – Fender.
Some of these guitars can be found from GuitarGuitar, Gear4Music and GAK.
It’s also worth checking your local music store to see what guitars they have in stock, don’t be scared to try a few!
Want to hear our suggestions for a different kind of music?
Be sure to fill out the ‘what’s your hobby?’ form by clicking the sentence above, and we’ll see what we can do!
Trying stand-up comedy is a great idea for those who’re trying to challenge themselves to do something new, whilst having fun in the process. It may be unlikely that those who’ve never considered it will jump at the opportunity, but those who have at least imagined themselves on stage should try and act on their desire to make people laugh.
One of the brilliant things about stand-up is that you can take it as seriously as you want. If you’re looking for a full-time commitment, then there’s plenty in the world of comedy to keep you busy all day, every day. If you just want to jump in and out of performing every so often, then that’s a possibility too.
There’s hundreds of open mic nights throughout the UK, where you can get on stage for the first time once you’ve written material, although some of these are easier to find than others. If you live in a busy city, then the easiest way to find a night is simply to walk around one evening and keep your eyes opened. If not, then check out Open Mic Finder to find events within travelling distance, but it may be worth contacting the venue directly as well, just in case the site hasn’t been updated recently and they no longer run the night.
To give you a bit of a helping hand, here’s our favourite nights for beginners:
Beat the Frog – Frog & Bucket, Manchester
Beat the Frog is a gong show that takes place every Monday at the award winning Frog & Bucket in Manchester. A gong show is the same as an open mic, except the audience will be given the opportunity to ‘vote’ each comedian of stage if they’re not pulling their weight – think Britain’s got Talent, but on a lower budget. Beat the Frog is not as cruel as some other gong shows though and there’s a good chance you’ll make it to the end of your 5 minute set if you’re not totally bombing.
Red Raw – The Stand Comedy Club, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Glasgow
Now one of the country’s most respected names, The Stand Comedy Club has grown from a regular venue in Edinburgh to a chain of brilliant clubs across the North of England and Scotland. Their open spot night Red Raw has a long waiting list, but is worth applying for anyway. The crowd is often friendly and forgiving as many comedians make their stage debut at the night.
Kayaking is a watersport. A bit like canoeing, kayaking involves a paddling through water.
Kayaking involves using a double ended paddle while your legs are inside your kayak. Yes, this means only your upper body is above the kayak. It can sound quite scary and it takes some getting used but once you embrace it, it can provide some of the biggest thrills you can experience.
Thrills are one thing but getting fit is a reason you may want to do a sport as your hobby. If this is true then kayaking may be the hobby that is perfectly suited to you. It provides:
To find out where you can kayak check out kayaking clubs throughout the UK.
Want to learn the basics? Here’s a video to give you some understanding.
Swimming can be a hobby for anyone. Not only is it an easy thing to get involved in but it is also something that is very good for you.
It is one of the most efficient sports for health performance as well as being fun to do.
Take a splash in your local pool
Of course to maximise your fitness through swimming it helps to be a strong swimmer but you may not want to start swimming as a hobby, simply for fitness reasons. You may also want to do it just for fun.
Swimming is fun for all ages. It cannot only help younger people in their fitness but can also help older people with mobility and strength.
So no matter how old you are, this is one hobby you can enjoy.
How to get involved?
There are hundreds of swimming pools and swimming clubs that are available to the public throughout the UK. To find a club check out the swimming pool finder.