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Archive for June, 2008

The Gibson Robot Guitar

Posted in 2. Equipment, Guitar Gear on June 30th, 2008 by Matt Rushton

  There are a lot of people out there talking about the new Gibson Robot Guitar. If you’re unfamiliar with this guitar let me tell you a little bit about it. The Robot Guitar is essentially a Gibson Les Paul Studio model. From a distance it looks just like a plain old Les Paul. From the front, the only thing that really looks different is one of the tone knobs. Once you take a closer look you’ll notice that the tuners look normal from the front but from the rear they’re bigger. That’s because each tuner has its own motor that will tighten or loosen the strings automatically. What’s surprising is the tuners don’t actually weigh any more than a standard tuner. They’re controlled by a pair of CPU’s that are connected to tuning sensors built into the bridge. All these components work together to automatically tune the Gibson Robot Guitar.

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Sunday Funnies - Lego Beer Song

Posted in 5. Humor on June 29th, 2008 by Matt Rushton

   Happy Sunday everybody! Todays funny clip is for my good friend Tom.       Read more »

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Live Musician Central Weekend Album Recommendations

Posted in Song Selection on June 28th, 2008 by Matt Rushton

   We’re featuring downloads from Amazon.com again this week. Amazon’s MP3 selection is huge, their prices are incredible and they’re ripped at 256kbps which sound excellent. So here’s our album picks for this week.         Read more »

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Settle Your Nerves - Dealing With Stage Fright

Posted in 3. Improve Your Band Skills, Stagecraft on June 27th, 2008 by Matt Rushton
Elvis - Dancing or just nervous?
   I’ve had my bouts of stage fright over the course of my career although I’ve never had it really bad. I’ve played with other musicians who were just overwhelmed with stage fright. I’ve played with guys that were throwing up before every gig because they got so nervous.

   Let me start off with a little quote from The King himself, Mr. Elvis Presley: “I’ve never gotten over what they call stage–fright. I go through it every show. I’m pretty concerned, I’m pretty much thinking about the show. I never get completely comfortable with it, and I don’t let the people around me get comfortable with it, in that I remind them that it’s a new crowd out there, it’s a new audience, and they haven’t seen us before. So it’s got to be like the first time we go on.” - taken from http://quotations.about.com

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Korg Pandora PX5D Multi-Effect Processor For Bass And Guitar

Posted in 2. Equipment, Bass Guitar Gear, Guitar Gear, Recording Gear on June 26th, 2008 by Matt Rushton

Korg Pandora PX5D   I previously reviewed the Korg ToneWorks PX4D and gave it my highest recommendation because of the many applications that it has in your gear arsenal. To read that review click here. The latest and greatest offering in the Korg Pandora line is the:
Korg Pandora PX5D Guitar Multi Effects Processor Silver.

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Inadvertent Plagiarism - Did I Steal This Song?

Posted in Songwriting on June 25th, 2008 by Matt Rushton
George Harrison - My Sweet Lord
   Have you ever written a song and worried that you stole that song from somebody else? I was reading in the Harmony Central Songwriting Forum and a user named blue2blue started a very interesting discussion on this. Here’s the link to the discussion click here. 

   I’m sure that’s a question that every songwriter has pondered. What are we other than a mix of everything we’ve ever heard. Think of George Harrison getting hit with a lawsuit for “My Sweet Lord” and losing because it sounded like “He’s So Fine” recorded by the Chiffons. It makes us all question “where did my song come from?”

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Fender American Standard Precision Bass

Posted in 2. Equipment, Bass Guitar Gear on June 24th, 2008 by Matt Rushton
Fender American Standard Precision Bass
   This is my favorite bass guitar of all time. It’s such a simple instrument with a simple design and setup that it’s surprising how many things there are to love about it. Body and scale wise it’s the bass version of the Fender Stratocaster. When it originally came out in 1951 it didn’t have the excellent body contouring that it has now. They gave the Precision Bass the comfortable body contouring in 1953. The Precision Bass actually helped spawn the design of the Fender Stratocaster. The Precision Bass was the first Fender offering to have the double cutaway design and the body contouring, both of which went on to be incorporated into the design of the Fender Stratocaster. The P-Bass is still selling today, 57 years after its introduction. It has helped shape the sound of all modern music.

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Keeping Your Band Together - The Weakest Link

Posted in 1. Live Musician Central, 3. Improve Your Band Skills, Band Chemistry, Band Related on June 23rd, 2008 by Matt Rushton
Ringo - The Weak Link?
   One of the biggest challenges you face in any band is keeping the band from falling apart. I’ve already talked about having a band leader but the fact of the matter is, the members are still there by choice. There are a lot of different things that can pull a band apart.

   One thing that’s inevitable in a band is what I call the “Weakest Link” syndrome. I don’t care how good everyone is, someone in the group will be the weakest link. Let me give you a few names and just think about their role as the “weakest link”.

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Sunday Funnies - Weezer - Pork And Beans Video

Posted in 5. Humor on June 22nd, 2008 by Matt Rushton

   If you’re a fan of pop culture then you’re sure to enjoy Weezer’s new video. The song is called Pork And Beans and it’s fun to name all the cultural references in the video. It’s funny, and it’s cool. That’s a rare combination.   

Click title for: Weezer - Pork And Beans


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Live Musician Central - Weekend Album Picks 6-20-2008

Posted in Song Selection on June 21st, 2008 by Matt Rushton

   This week we’re featuring top new albums from amazon.com. I’ve got a lot of MP3 players that don’t like iTunes aac format. My cell phone, Zune, Samsung and iRiver devices all work perfectly with the MP3’s. So when you download from Amazon, you get MP3 format music. You can also get incredible deals on full albums. For instance you can download all 13 songs of Robert Plant and Alison Kraus - Raising Sand for $5.00 . Now that’s hard to beat anywhere and it’s all DRM free. Not only that but it’s in 256 kbps format. I definitely think Amazon’s MP3 format downloads are worth a look at.                      Read more »

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