Live Musician Central

Author: Live Musician Central

Joe Morello Drum Solo Circa 1961

   This is for all you drummers out there playing and working in a live band. This is a video clip of Jazz drum legend Joe Morello from around 1961. Joe is famous for his control of accents and rebounds. He played for many years with the Dave Brubeck Quartet and he’s featured on over 60 albums recorded by Dave Brubeck.

   Joe Morello’s album count is very impressive as he’s played on over 120 albums. He’s also written many top selling books about drumming inluding his book “Master Studies”. He is also included in Modern Drummer Magazine’s Hall Of Fame.

   What I like about this clip is the way Joe is using his hands to play his drumset at the beginning of the solo. It really makes me wonder if John Bonham had seen Joe Morello play like this at some point. As I’m sure you’re aware, John Bonham has a nice section in his “Moby Dick” solo where he plays with his hands. I guess we all learn from our heroes.     (more…)
Fender Samarium Cobalt Noiseless Guitar Pickups Review

Samarium Cobalt Noiseless Pickups

My favorite electric guitar is the Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster. I use it onstage constantly with my live band. I have two American Deluxe Stratocasters. One is the 2004, 50th Anniversary American Deluxe Stratocaster and my other is a 2006 American Deluxe Ash Stratocaster. They’re both equipped stock with Fender Samarium Cobalt Noiseless Pickups. In fact, Samarium Cobalt Noiseless pickups are found on all 2004-2009 Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster guitars.

One thing that I’ve always hated about traditional single coil pickups is the irritating 50/60 cycle hum that plague them. Obviously if you use a high gain amplifier or use any kind of compression, the hum is amplified and sounds even worse. I play a lot of high-gain, compressed sounds. The hum that comes with a traditional single coil pickup is unacceptable for a lot of what I play. Simply for the noiseless design, I have been very happy with the Fender SCN Samarium Cobalt Noiseless pickups.
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Seize The Moment If You’ve Got A Large Crowd

Shufflin' Noah Rockin' The 90's

I’ve played to audiences of 1 person and I’ve played to audiences of 10,000 people over the course of my career in a live band. I’ve made some basic mistakes over the years and I’ve learned some good lessons from them. One mistake that I made early on in my career was not seizing the moment and giving an over-the-top show when I’ve played in front of very large audiences.

I consider a large crowd to be anything over 1000 people. I have played to audiences of 1000 or more quite a few times over the course of my career as a live musician. It’s such a great feeling to look out and see a big crowd but it can also be quite intimidating and I’ve blown it a couple times. (more…)
Sunday Funnies – World Class Drummer Bernard Purdie Does His Al Pacino Impersonation

I think Bernard Purdie is one of the most musical drummers there is. Even without the rest of the band his drumming sounds like a complete song. The man loves to play his drums!

While watching the following video clip, I couldn’t help but notice how similar Bernard Purdie sounds to Al Pacino. So, I’ve put a video clip of Al Pacino below so you can compare how Bernard and Al sound. It’s really pretty funny! (more…)
Weekend Set List For Your Live Band To Play 7-4-09 – Patriotic 1

   Every weekend I feature a set list for your live band to learn and play at gigs. You don’t have to learn all of these songs but it’s a good source for putting together specific types of set lists. At the end of each Weekend Set List I will put the genre that the set list falls into. This week the genre is “Patriotic” in celebration of our nations Independance Day.

   These songs are all proven in clubs to get people dancing and showing some love for the good old U.S.A. so play them loud and proud! It’s a good idea to have all these songs on your iPod or other portable music player so you can at least play them while your band is taking a break.

   I’m featuring download from Amazon.com MP3 service since they sound better than iTunes and they cost 33% less than iTunes. You can play Amazon.com MP3’s on any MP3 player including iPods and iPhones. They are also DRM free so you can put them on multiple players.
Download Free Fender Cyber-Twin SE Preset Patch “LMC Mid Grind ’66”

Fender Cyber-Twin SE Amplifier

Just in time for the weekend, here’s another free Fender Cyber-Twin SE preset patch for you to check out and download. I call this preset “LMC Mid Grind ’66” and it’s very loosely based on a Fender Super Reverb ’66 amplifier. I’ve made quite a few tweaks to this preset and I use it all the time in my live band. In fact, I like this preset so much that I put it in preset number P01 so that it’s the first sound that comes up when I turn on my Cyber-Twin SE.

What I really love about the “LMC Mid Grind ’66” preset is how it lets the guitars true tone shine through. The sound of the guitar that you’re using will really determine how this preset patch will sound. It’s one of those special presets that will have guitarists naming the type of guitar you’re playing through the amplifier. A Stratocaster will sound like a Strat while a Les Paul will undeniably be a Les Paul. There are some presets that sound pretty much the same no matter what guitar you play through them but not “LMC Mid Grind ’66”.
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Pigtronix Philosopher’s Tone Compression Pedal Demo Video

I recently added a Pigtronix Philosopher’s Tone compression pedal to my guitar rig that I use in my live band. I recently wrote a review of the Pigtronix Philosopher’s Tone pedal on Live Musician Central. I have been very well pleased with this compression pedal. (more…)
Michael Jackson – Dirty Diana (video)

For today’s Musician Showcase I’m featuring one of my favorite songs by the great Michael Jackson. As you know, I play lead guitar in my live band so my favorite type of music features a lot of electric guitar. My favorite Michael Jackson songs naturally have the guitar mixed front and center.

The song “Dirty Diana” features the excellent guitar playing of Steve Stevens. Steve was at the height of his fame with Billy Idol at the time and Michael, being the genius marketer that he is, hired Steve to play on this song. I’m sure the decision was based on the great success Michael had using Eddie Van Halen to play on “Beat It”.

What I love about this song is the dark sexiness it evokes. The video shows Michael busting off some of his sexier stage moves and the whole thing just rocks. I hope you enjoy it! (more…)
Behringer FCV100 Dual Mode Foot Controller Expression Pedal

Behringer FCV100 Footcontroller

In my live band, the guitar amp I use and love is the Fender Cyber-Twin SE amplifier. I’ve been using this amplifier for a couple years and it has never let me down. I program my own custom sound preset patches for the Cyber-Twin SE. The sounds the Cyber-Twin SE is capable of really are amazing!

I also love the MIDI capabilities the amp gives you with control over preset switching as well as control over many parameters in the amp controls and effects parameters. The MIDI controller I use is the Fender Cyber-Controller which has switches for controlling presets, the tuner, and effects on/off. The Cyber-Controller also has two controller pedals that I use to control various sound parameters such as Gain or effects levels. (more…)
Why Are Some Guitars Priced So Low And Some Priced So High?

Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster

One question I get asked all the time is “How come this Stratocaster costs so much more than that Stratocaster? Aren’t they both Fender Stratocasters?”. I get asked the same questions about various Gibson Les Paul guitars as well. As a matter of fact, every instrument that you find used in a live band such as drums, bass, guitar or keyboards have huge price ranges for instruments, that on the surface, appear very similar. (more…)