Live Musician Central

   Thanksgiving week is upon us and I was just thinking about how thankful I am to be a musician and for all the incredible music that we have available to us. It’s really a great time to be a Live Musician with all the fantastic technology available to use in the creation of new music. The digital age has given us the ability to build affordable and extremely powerful digital audio workstations. Computer and audio interface hardware is very affordable and there are some fantastic software packages that give us unprecedented control over our music. It really is a great time to be a musician so here are some things I’m thankful for to celebrate this Thanksgiving.

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   I’ve been featuring some live musicians who are masters at their particular instrument and this week we have bass guitar master Billy Sheehan. This is a video of Billy with his live band playing his song called “The Suspense Is Killing Me” from his Cosmic Troubadour album. Just an FYI, you can get Cosmic Troubadour from Amazon.com MP3 downloads for the extremely low price of $6.99 for 15 song! Can’t beat that…   Read more »

Matt With American Deluxe Ash Stratocaster

   Being a guitarist in a live band, I’m constantly asked “What guitar do you play?”. The truth is I have a modest guitar collection of about 12 guitars so I play a lot of different guitars. But there is one particular model that stands out above the rest. That is my beloved Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster. I actually have two American Deluxe Strats and A Jeff Beck Signature Strat that is very similar to an American Deluxe Stratocaster. The two I’d like to talk about today are my 2004 50th Anniversary American Deluxe Stratocaster and my 2005 American Deluxe Ash Stratocaster. They are both very similar to each other and incredible guitars.

   I got the 50th Anniversary American Deluxe Stratocaster when it was released in 2004 because I had always wanted a collectible guitar and I love the Stratocaster. My Jeff Beck Signature Strat had been serving me well for about 9 years and I was looking for another good guitar. The reason I got the American Deluxe version rather than the American Standard version was because I absolutely love the feature set that is on the American Deluxe Stratocaster.

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John "Mitch" Mitchell, July 9, 1947 – November 12, 2008

   The world lost another legendary live musician and rock pioneer on November 12, 2008 when Jimi Hendrix Experience drummer Mitch Mitchell was found deceased in his room at the Benson Hotel in downtown Portland, Oregon. He was 62 years old which still seems far too young to die. It’s a sad day indeed as Mitchell was an integral part of the music behind the great Jimi Hendrix.

   Mitch Mitchell was one third of the great rock trio that made up the Jimi Hendrix Experience. His drumming style was a great example of jazz/rock fusion. He would switch between a traditional jazz drum grip and a matched rock style grip when he played. His playing was very active and he had a great feel for filling the space around Jimi’s lead guitar and vocal work. When Jimi would take a guitar solo Mitch would have a very active interplay with the guitar on the drums. It’s really a pleasure to listen to Mitch and Jimi play music together.     Read more »

Jeff Beck

     People always ask me who my favorite guitar player is. Well my favorite guitar player is Jeff Beck and he’s been my favorite since I was a teenager. He is a supreme musician both live and in the studio. I just love the way he gets so much expression out of his Fender Stratocaster. He plays with his fingers almost exclusively although I’ve seen him grab a pick a time or two. His skill with the whammy bar is unparalleled for musicality.

   This clip is Jeff performing the classic Lennon/McCartney tune ‘A Day In The Life’. The way Jeff Beck interprets this song is absolutely stunning in its beauty. The emotion that Jeff gets out of his guitar really defies description, you just have to listen to understand. It also shows what a beautiful melody John Lennon wrote in ‘A Day In The Life’. I hope you enjoy this rendition as much as I do.  Read more »

Fender Cyber-Twin SE Front

   My main onstage guitar amplifier for the last couple years is the Fender Cyber-Twin SE. As a live guitarist this amplifier has been invaluable to me. Because I play in a cover band as well as an original band, I needed an amplifiereffects setup that could cover a wide range of different guitar sounds. At a gig I will use sounds ranging from a country twang to hard rocking Marshall type distortion to full on saturated mid-scooped distortion. I used to use a Digitech 2120 Valve Guitar System but it just didn’t have the punch and presence of an actual amplifier and it’s sound always left me wanting more power. When I was searching for a new amplifier I played a bunch of modeling effects units and amplifiers including the Line 6 POD, Boss GT-8 Effects Processor and the Line 6 Vetta 2 among others. None of those modeling devices gave me the playing response that the Fender Cyber-Twin SE did. The biggest thing I noticed was on the other modeling devices, whether I played light or heavy, or when I turned the guitar down or up, the sound stayed the same. The Fender Cyber-Twin SE responded to my playing touch, guitar volume adjustments and my picking attack. It simply breathes more than a standard DSP modeling amplifier. There’s a secret to how Fender achieved this with the Cyber-Twin SE.

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In Stereo Bass Drum Logo

  We had a really excellent gig at the Canyon Inn in Salt Lake City this last weekend. In Stereo hadn’t played any shows for about a month and half so we were all rested, charged up and ready to rock! Let’s face it, live musicians are meant to play in front of live audiences and we were really stoked to be playing again. Because we had taken some time off we got together on Thursday and ran through a few songs to knock the rust off before the weekend. The extra practice really paid off because we played great all weekend long.

   Friday night when we arrived at the Canyon Inn it was pretty dead. We were a little worried that the crowd would be small. We shouldn’t have worried because right before we hit the stage people came rolling in. The club filled up really nicely and the crowd was lively and ready to have some fun. Read more »

In Stereo Gets Along

   That’s right, getting along is more important than musicianship. This is band chemistry 101 for all you live musicians out there. I’ve played with some of the most incredible musicians I’ve ever heard and I’ve also seen them not able to function in a band for more than a year. The musicians I play with now are all excellent. Maybe not the best in the world, but excellent players. My two bands have been together for 18 years and 14 years respectively. Let me tell you why we’ve been together for so long.

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Stevie Ray Vaughan

   Stevie Ray Vaughan is a legendary live musician. His live performance was simply amazing and he was very much at home on the stage. In this video clip Stevie talks about his playing and you get to sit back and enjoy him riffing away on his Fender Stratocaster. The camera stays on Stevie’s hands so you can really take a good look at what he’s doing while he’s playing. If you’re like me, then you wish every concert DVD had a camera just on the guitarists hands so you can see and learn what they’re doing. The only downside of the clip is I wish he was playing more but he does have some sage words of wisdom for guitarists. Enjoy!

Stevie Ray Vaughan Interview And Guitar Lesson

Fender Artist Series Stevie Ray Vaughan Stratocaster Electric Guitar 3-Tone SunburstThe Fender Stevie Ray Vaughan Stratocaster Electric Guitar is made for Texas Blues - Stevie style - with the same features as Stevie’s number one Strat. Unique features include a special “oval” neck, pao ferro fingerboard with 21 jumbo frets, three Texas Special single-coil pickups, gold-plated vintage hardware with Stevie’s unique left-handed synchronized tremolo, and special engraved pickguard. Pay tribute to a master with every note you play.

   Happy Halloween everyone! I hope that all your Halloween gigs go well this year. Hopefully you’ll get to see some sexy ladies on the dance floor. If you’re not playing a gig, then get out and trick-or-treat and raise some hell with the kiddies. In celebration of Halloween I’m posting up a clip of the classic Halloween song “Monster Mash” by Bobby Pickett and The Cryptkickers. It’s an animation done by Gary Ramey and it’s quite well done. I appreciate the fact that the audio quality is so good which is hard to find on YouTube.

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