Thanks to my good friend Frank for cluing me into this amazing YouTube video. This clip is called “Mother Of All Funk Chords” and is a compilation and remix of a bunch of music related video clips on YouTube. The video editing is genius and it’s a really fun clip to watch.
According to the video’s creator, kutiman, what you see is what you hear. So kutiman has quite good musical sense as well as great video editing skills.
I hope you enjoy The Mother Of All Funk Chords (the E9 Chord). (more…)
For this weeks live band setlist I’m bringing you the second of our classic rock set lists. Classic rock is one of the most popular styles of music for live bands to play. There are tons of gigs available out there for classic rock bands.
The songs in this set are compiled from the top 200 classic rock songs of all time. These songs are guaranteed to get people up out of their seats and out to the dance floor. Even if you don’t learn these songs to play in your band you should have them on your portable music player to play during band breaks. That way you can keep the crowd in the club and rockin’ while you get yourself a drink.
I feature songs from Amazon.com MP3 download service since they’re less expensive than iTunes and they sound better. These MP3’s are ripped at 256Kbps so they sound excellent. They are also DRM free so you can put them on multiple music players. So get downloading today!!
I’ve been playing in live bands since I was 15 years old and in that time I’ve been a member of many different types of bands. I’ve been in cover bands, original bands, wedding bands, jazz bands, country bands, rock bands and the occasional church group. I’ve been in some of these groups simultaneously and I’ve had some interesting times juggling multiple bands.
There are a few different reasons I like to play in multiple bands. I know a lot of great musicians and I like to play music with all of them. Some of the musicians I know are more skilled at different types of music than others. So I spend time playing with different groups of musicians and I get to play different styles of music with different lineups of musicians. I personally like to play a lot of different types of music so playing in multiple groups allows me to play more varied music styles. (more…)
I’m always on the hunt for great deals on live band equipment. I have no problem at all buying a piece of used gear on eBay but I do wish the warranties were better. It’s tough to find a piece of used equipment that comes with a decent warranty and return policy.
That’s one reason I like to shop at Musician’s Friend. They have an excellent return policy so you can make sure a piece of equipment is really what you want before you’re stuck with it forever. They have a 45-Day Satisfaction Guarantee on anything that you buy from them and that includes their excellent selection of used equipment.
I’ve been enjoying the Chickenfoot album more and more now that I’ve listened to it a few times. I did a Chickenfoot album review when the album came out and I’ve decided that it’s actually quite good. It’s just good to hear a group of great musicians that you know will make all of us that play in a live band proud when they get onstage. There’s nothing canned about good, hard Rock-N-Roll.
Today I’m posting up the first music video from the Chickenfoot album. This song is titled “Oh Yeah” and has some good Led Zeppelin type vibes to it. That could be because the Chickenfoot album was produced by legendary producer Andy Johns who also produced Led Zeppelin albums.
This is a pretty basic music video but it shows the band having a good time and the audio quality is excellent! (more…)
There are a lot of different ways to run a P.A. System in your live band. Depending on the size of your gigs, your P.A. requirements can be very different. If you’re just playing a small room such as a coffee house for 20-30 people then using powered speakers may be the way to go. If you’re playing medium sized to large clubs, it may be time to step up to a bi-amped P.A. System.
So what is bi-amping? Put simply, it’s using two separate amplifiers on your P.A. System with one of the amps powering the low frequencies and the other amp powering the mid/high frequencies. (more…)
This weeks Sunday Funnies is a funny and rockin’ song by Jack Black and his band “Tenacious D”. This song is included on the new PSP game Rock Band Unplugged
There isn’t a music video (that I know of) to this song so I’m posting up a video some kid did on YouTube. He’s using clips from the movie Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny
This is our third dance set list for your live band to learn or to have on your portable music player to play during your band breaks. These songs are chosen from the Mobile Beat Top 200 Dance Songs Of All Time. They are proven in clubs and in front of live audiences to keep the crowd on their feet and dancing all night long!
My band gets regular requests for the songs in this setlist. We don’t know them all but we do have them on the iPod and are able to play them during band breaks. Doing that satisfies a lot of the requests and the crowd likes to keep the party going while the band takes a break.
I’m featuring downloads from Amazon.com MP3 service since they cost less than iTunes and they sound better. The MP3’s are DRM free and you can load them onto multiple MP3 players including iPods and iPhones. So get downloading and learn some new songs for your next gig!
One thing you’ll have to deal with all the time in your live band is equipment breakdowns. You’ll have to deal with everything from shorted out cables to outright electrical failures in your amplifiers, keyboards, microphones and mixers. You can deal with them with a little bit of preventative maintenance and a handy toolkit to take to your gigs.
Dealing with problems on the fly is something that you will have to do at gigs and at practice. That’s why you want to have some basic tools in your equipment bag. The following list is a good list of basic items you should have at every gig:
The other day I wrote a review about the Fender Samarium Cobalt Noiseless pickups that I have in both of my Fender American Deluxe Stratocasters. I love the sound of these pickups and they’ve been a huge success onstage in my live band.
They are a bit warmer sounding than the classic vintage single-coil pickups but the fact that they are noiseless puts them way ahead in terms of live functionality than standard single-coil pickups. When you’re dealing with varying power conditions at every venue that you play in, not having to worry about your noisy single-coil pickups gives great peace of mind.
Today I’m posting up a couple of really good demo videos that feature the Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster loaded with the SCN pickups. These videos are both really great examples of how the Samarium Cobalt Noiseless pickups sounds. You can also hear the Samarium Cobalt Noiseless pickups in the clips on my Fender Cyber-Twin SE Preset Patch download page. (more…)