How RockSo Music Was Born In Sittard

It all started in October 2021 in Sittard with an empty store. It was like a new canvas. Up until then, we only existed as an online store. Going back and forth on how to setup the physical storefront for RockSo Music, we decided to direct mount the guitars hooks on the walls. This was easier said than done.

Starting With A New Canvas

With an impact drill and blood, sweat, and tears, we finally got all the hooks installed by November. Shortly after the walls were completed, the guitars started to arrive from Japan. Little by little we filled the store with our vintage guitars. We decided to use only two-thirds of the space for the store and reserved the other one-third for our office and classroom for Japanese lessons.

Handyman @ RockSo Music
Handy Man To The Rescue
Workbench being built @ RockSo Music
Work Bench for Repairs and Mods

We had a nice antique counter to use from the previous owner. The case was very empty at first. And we only had one brand of guitar strings from ESP.

Store Opening in December 2021

After the store opening on 2 December 2021, we had about 3 weeks before a month-long lockdown. From mid-January 2022, we reopened, and customers started to come. Then, de Limburger, the Dutch provincial newspaper, ran a story about RockSo Music.

RockSo Music in de Limburger January 2022

A full-page article in de Limburger on 24 January 2022 helped spread the word further…

Some of our customers ask for certain products; others make suggestions on what we should carry in our shop. Our collection reflects those requests and suggestions.

RockSo Guitar Collection

Where We Are Now

Over the past 7 months, RockSo Music has transformed steadily to better serve the local music community as well as the wider audience online. Besides new guitars from KAMINARI Guitars, Tokai, and Fender Japan, we now have an expanded vintage/secondhand selection including signature models and electric basses. To serve local musicians’ needs, we carry a wide range of accessories, amplifiers, effects, and starter-model classical guitars.

If you have not visited us recently, come on down and check out the latest selection!

Sunday Night Blues – 12 June 2022

This was the last Sunday Night Blues of the spring session. We had the core group again; Maurice, Colin, Marcel, Espen, Francesco, Lucas, Kyoko, and Christian. Unfortunately, Tim was feeling under the weather and couldn’t make it.

We played Mannish Boy and Sweet Home Chicago. It sounded pretty good and everyone was in high spirits.

We then took time to work on Mustang Sally. We did a first play through and then worked on a quiet down part. We played it again adding in the new ideas. It sounded great and Lucas had the spotlight with his blazing solos.

Scenes from Sunday Night Blues
Sunday Night Blues @ Volt

We took a break to do a feedback session as Espen had to leave early. We talked about the future jam sessions and plans for next time.

After the break, we played through the remaining song in this order:

Thanks A Lot
Thrill is Gone
Keep Your Hands To Your Self

During Thrill is Gone, Lucas showed the members new chords and phrases.
Colin and Lucas changed places and we did a final Thrill is Gone by request to practice the Ideas Lucas gave us earlier.

We would like to thank all participants in Sunday Night Blues and a big thanks to Lucas from Muziekschool Plug & Play for helping organize this.

For Autumn 2022, we will update our venues based on participant feedback, which may include public open jams at Cafés as well as workshops. More updates to come!

RockSo Out!

Sunday Night Blues – 5 June 2022

The 7th Sunday Night Blues with 7 members! The line-up was, Maurice on vocals, Colin on drums and guitar, Lucas on guitar and drums, Marcel on guitar, Tim on guitar, Kyoko on organ, and Christian on the bass.

This was the second to last Sunday Night Jam. We went through the list of songs that we have learned over the last 7 weeks. Here are the songs we played in order.

  • Mannish Boy
  • Sweet Home Chicago
  • Mustang Sally
  • Thanks A Lot
    (break)
  • Johnny Be Good style Jam
  • Thrill Is Gone
  • Keep Your Hands To Yourself
  • Ain’t gone and Give Up on Love (partial play through)
  • Mary Had a Little Lamb

Everyone was in good spirits and Tim sounded great with his new Kaminari Liquid 2! We are finally getting comfortable with the songs and are also practicing the endings of the songs. I know with just a little more practice, we can be ready for a live performance one day soon!

Don’t miss the last Jam Night next Sunday!

Sunday Night Blues – 29 May 2022

This was our 6th Sunday Night Blues! Maurice with us again and Kyoko on organ. We started off with Mustang Sally to get warmed up. Again Colin on drums and Christian were on bass. This time everyone was in the pocket and lively. We quickly went into Mannish Boy and the energy grew even more!

We went through a full set of songs this time.

  • Mustang Sally
  • Mannish Boy
  • Thanks A Lot
  • Thrill Is Gone
  • Keep Your Hands To Yourself
  • Sweet Home Chicago
  • Pride And Joy
  • Mary Hand A Little Lamb

We then played Thanks A lot! Followed by The Thrill Is Gone. Lucas played drums for these and Colin jumped on guitar. Thanks Colin for taking time to teach the guys a few chords and ideas!

We also had a proper break time and a few members went into the main area of Volt to have a beer and chat.

We also played Sweet Home Chicago and then tried to play through a few SRV songs include Pride and Joy and Mary had a Little Lamb with Colin still on guitar. We will work on them again next time! All in all it was one of the most exciting Sunday Night Blues so far!

The Gulls members visit RockSo Music!

RockSo Music Sittard had special visitors on 21 May.

The Gulls from the UK, gave an outdoor live performance right across from our shop. Eddie was in and out of the shop all day. Christian worked on his two guitars and a bass and got them ready for the big concert the next day at Poppodium Volt.

Eddie testing KAMINARI Curl Cable

Eddie did a cable comparison between KAMINARI Curl Cable and his coil cable.

Then came Will, Kil, and Bob. They had fun in our shop.

The Gulls having fun with Fernandes Zo-3

Everyone loves Fernandes Zo-3. Kil and Eddie had fun playing them.

On Sunday night 22 May, The Gulls had a great show at the Volt! They recorded the live performance for their new live album. RockSo Music and Kaminari Guitars are proud to support The Gulls with Kaminari guitar and bass cables for the occasion. Below: Eddie sports a Kaminari T-shirt with Christian.

Sunday Night Blues – 22 May 2022

This week we had a small group for Sunday Night Blues, but Maurice the singer was with us again. We had a new female participant. It was also the first time with Kyoko on organ! We started off with Mannish Boy to get warmed up. Again Colin on drums and Christian were on bass. Next, we jammed through Sweet Home Chicago. Everyone did their best!

Sunday Night Blues Set List
The set list

We then played The Thrill Is Gone. Colin and Christian kept the beat slow and steady! And Marcel and Tim had multiple solos. Lucas also had a chance to shine with blazing solos through out! After that we did Thanks A Lot! Everyone enjoyed jamming!

After a short break we tried Keep Your Hands To Yourself by the Georgia Satellites. Maurice led the group on drums and also sang along while playing! At the end with Christian on drums we played Mustang Sally. Thank you all for coming! See you next week!

Sunday Night Blues – 15 May 2022

We had the 4th session in a series of Sunday Night Blues.

It was another beautiful day in May. We enjoyed the short walk (only 6 minutes away!) from RockSo Music Sittard Shop to Poppodium Volt.

This was our 4th Sunday Night Blues Jam. This week we again had the pleasure of having Maurice on the mic! We got warmed up with The Thrill is Gone. It sounded great, and everyone had a chance to solo. Colin and Christian were on drums and bass and Lucas was in top form with his beautiful gold top Les Paul.

Then once again we played Mustang Sally. The members tried to remember the guitar variations we learned last week. This song is really coming along and soon it will be ready for the stage performance. We just need to work out the ending!

The beauty of our Sunday Night Blues is that anyone can try their talent at any other instrument.

Sunday Night Blues May 2022
Rhythm Section

We took a short break and then Christian showed us all some guitar variations for Thanks A Lot. The members took some time learning the new chords and rhythm ideas.

We finished the evening learning Sweet Home Chicago. We played through it quite a few times and then took a break. During the break some of the members enjoyed playing classic rock riffs and teaching each other.

One more last play through of Sweet Home Chicago and we were all done for the evening!

Sunday Night Blues – 8 May 2022

Last Sunday was the next session of Sunday Night Blues at Volt. This week we had a smaller group compared to last week. There were 8 members in total. After a sound check we warmed up with The Thrill Is Gone. Participants took turns to solo and got warmed up.

Aside from the song list, there was an important lesson for the participants, namely the jam session etiquettes:

  • Who is soloing?
  • Am I too loud?
  • Don’t step on anyone else’s toes.

Since we had a smaller group this time, we decided it was a good chance for a workshop. Using Mustang Sally as the example song, Lucas and Christian showed the group new ways to play the rhythm guitar parts. We all learned 3 ways. We appointed 3 members to play each new part. It sounded incredible and everyone enjoyed learning and jamming. Lucas also taught us all the major scale and each member had a chance to try their hand and improvising using the new scale. Everyone gave it their best shot and realized that practice does make perfect.

Colin tries KAMINARI Liquid2.

We finished the evening with Christian on drums, Colin on guitar, and Lucas on bass for a funky groove that lasted the remaining 25 minutes of the night.
Thank you everyone for joining and we’ll see you all next time!
RockSo out!

Sunday Night Blues – 1 May 2022

1 May was our second regular blues jam with some participants that were not there last week. We started off reviewing Mannish Boy and Thrill Is Gone. Lucas helped last week’s member review as the newcomers learned new chords. Colin and Christian kept the groove steady on drums and bass while Maurice appointed the next person to take the spotlight on lead guitar.

Then we introduced Maurice to Thanks A Lot and went over the lyrics and chord changes. Again, Maurice called out the next person to solo. Thanks a lot, Maurice, for leading the way! And the last song of the evening was Mustang Sally.

The final performance of the evening was a trio featuring Lucas on guitar, Colin on drums, and Christian on bass. They played a slow blues jam that was an example to the group of what’s t come next session. We are all looking forward to it.

Bass players still wanted. New members welcome!

Guess Who Visited Our Shop?

Last week, we had some special visitors from New York. They are none other than some of the current members of The Skatalites! They visited us the morning after their amazing show on 28 April 2022.

Aurelien, being the guitarist in the band, was naturally interested in our collection of guitars. He and his tour manager were particularly interested in Ibanez Roadstars.

The Skatalites Aurelien plays Fernandes Zo-3

Aurelien on Fernandes Zo-3
Aurelien was also curious about Fenandes Zo-3 and tried his Ska rhythms on the guitar.

Aurelien in KAMINARI T-shirt
And he graciously accepted our gift of KAMINARI T-shirt, which he sported immediately for a shot with Christian.

Anant the Saxophonist
A few minutes after Aurelien left, Anant dropped by. We enjoyed our conversation with him. Not only is he an awesome sax player, it turns out he is also a guitarist!

Ken the Keyboardist
After Anant left, Ken the keyboardist came to see any other members were here as they were getting ready to head out on the road for the next show in another city. When he saw our Yamaha Electone in the back, he rushed to it and gave it a test run. His words were, “I love the feel of the keyboard!”

As always, we enjoy visits by musicians and music lovers at RockSo Music. And we are looking forward to our next guests!