(This is a now page, and if you have your own site, you can find out about what it is here.)
Updated August 30, 2023, from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Courses & Teaching
I’m currently mostly making new guitar & music courses in Malay. The guitar courses go out to members of Kelab Gitar Az Samad & the music courses cover music business, marketing, copywriting & music career planning kind of stuff. The core music career material is tested with my three person coaching group, Coaching Kerjaya Muzik which celebrated it’s first year anniversary with this video back in November 2022.
I also teach & coach 1-on-1 in person and via Zoom video calls, those slots are limited and expensive. If you’re interested to find out more about that, contact me here with your name, what you want to learn, your location, background & goals (basically as much info to give context).
Writing
I write course, book & music reviews here on this website. Right now I’m into older guitar & music books from the 60s to 90s, especially older out of print books. I find that some of the best teaching materials are lost because:
(1) they were written by specialists who are not known outside of the field
(2) the books didn’t sell much & went out of print
I’m studying the body of educational works by specific musicians who were important at the beginning of institutions like Berklee College of Music & Guitar Institute of Technology. I find it fascinating how they organized the syllabus & structured lessons, topics etc. I geek out on this. Some of the books I’m studying include the works of John Laporta, Howard Roberts & William Leavitt.
I’ve also been receiving more and more books & courses for review. Am currently working through those as well.
I also write reviews of the latest guitar & music courses (and CDs) on this site & accept submissions from publisher, record labels and independent artists.
I wrote Atomic Essays inspired by the Ship 30 for 30 challenge by Dickie Bush & Nicholas Cole for 3 installments. The first 30 atomic essays were edited and compiled into my eBook, Cerita Muzik.
Content Creation
I have a love-hate relationship with social media & the internet. Some days I love it more, some day less. Basically though, I am fascinated with SEO, content creation formats, memes, email marketing, copywriting structures, storytelling & worldbuilding — how it relates to creatives in general & musicians specifically.
I took my first 1-on-1 client, Malaysian jazz pianist Tay Cher Siang recently and have created a 12-part Instagram Reels video series that is being released weekly on his Instagram account every Wednesday noon. So far, three are online and feedback has been positive.
I meet & hang out from time to time with different musicians and do collaborative content on my Instagram page. The last is #RiffingWithEzanee which is released every Saturday noon. Previous collaborations include #GrooviBersamaRuvi and #LuquesTechTips.
I’m also open to working with a few more clients who are interested to grow their social media presence based on developing their personal brand. What that means is if you have cool ideas and like talking about them, I might be able to help you reach more of THE RIGHT PEOPLE. For me, it’s not just about growing numbers but about connecting with the right people.
I’ve also just started working on an interesting content creation project related to books. Excited to share that soon.
Consulting
My 1-on-1 consulting clients have included professional musicians & music college professors from the United States. I have also been appointed as a member of the Industry Advisory Panel for the Institute of Music, UCSI University for two years in 2022 and 2023.
Speaking
I run a Clubhouse room (almost) every Wednesday night from 9:30 PM (GMT+8, Malaysian time zone). Co-founded with Malaysian songwriter & entrepreneur, Altimet, I currently host it and am joined by a other like-minded musicians as we discuss current happenings in the music industry.
We just ran our 121st session last Wednesday. We have 1.3k members in the Malaysian Musicians on CH house. Find out more info about our future sessions here.
It’s a room for musicians to discuss, exchange ideas & network. Although we call it Malaysian Musicians on CH, anyone is welcome to hang out with us. Among the people we’ve had in past sessions include Sheila Majid, Aubrey Suwito, Ahmad Izham Omar, JD Wong, Emmett (Butterfingers), Sina Djavadkhani (Damn Dirty Apes), Joe Flizzow, SonaOne, Cody Foo, Aman Ra, members of Late Night Frequency, Jennifer Thompson, Melakaboy and Joe Lee.
Performing
I have some tentative plans for a solo acoustic jazz guitar performance in October. I performed as part of the orchestra for the Disney in Concert performances a few months ago at Plenary Hall, Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre.
Workshops, Clinics and Talks
I’m working on an academic paper about a Malaysian rock band & the various guitar parts in their classic albums. I will also present a short talk about it in October.
Besides that, I’m planning the material for 4 workshops and another music event, all in October.
Nature
I’ve been spending more time talking walks in nature, saying hello to cats everywhere.
