Live Musician Central

Author: Live Musician Central

Market Your Band With Social Networking

Visit Matt Rushton's MySpace Page

There are so many ways for live musicians to reach our audience today that there’s really no excuse not to be using some of them. Today I’m going to discuss using the social networking sites out there for marketing you, your band and your music. I’m talking about using MySpace, Facebook and LinkedIn to connect with your fans as well as other musicians and bands. There are a lot of social networking sites and some that are dedicated strictly to music and musicians but I’m going to focus on Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn.

Of those three big social networking sites the one that caters the best to musicians and bands is MySpace. MySpace allows you to create a musician specific profile about you or your band and upload your own original music for playback on your profile page. You can also allow people to download your songs for free. The big advantage to MySpace is you get a unique URL that incorporates your name, or a version of it in the URL. For example, my MySpace URL is http://www.myspace.com/mattrushtonmusic . It’s fairly short and it has my name in it. (more…)
Foot Control Pedal For Fender Cyber-Twin – Behringer FCB1010 MIDI Foot Controller

Behringer FCB1010 MIDI Foot Controller

I have the Fender Cyber-Twin SE amplifier and have been using it in my live band as well as in my recording studio for about 3 years now. It has proven itself time and time again over the years and I’m very happy with the Cyber-Twin SE. I’ve recommended the amplifier often over the years to my students and fellow musicians. When I bought my Cyber-Twin SE the Cyber Foot Controller was readily available and I purchased one along with the amplifier. Since then the Cyber Foot Controller has seemingly disappeared. I haven’t seen any formal announcement from Fender that the pedal is discontinued but it sure seems to be gone. The only place I’ve seen them recently is occasionally on eBay. I have had many people ask me what MIDI controller to use with the Fender Cyber-Twin SE and I recommend the Behringer FCB1010 MIDI Foot Controller. It’s unbelievably inexpensive for how perfectly it works with the Cyber-Twin SE. (more…)
The Tielman Brothers – Rollin’ Rock (live 1960)

All I can say after watching this amazing live performance is wow! The Tielman Brothers come from Indonesia and they are just incredible to watch perform. They really knew how to put on a show. It’s a true art to have four people put on a single dynamic stageshow. They each take a turn in the spotlight and all four brothers are truly talented. This kind of energetic performance is what rock-n-roll is really all about. I do have to say, it made me a little squeamish when the lead guitarist wedged the neck of that beutiful Les Paul on the floor and put his foot down on it to play it with his foot. I thought for sure that guitar neck was going to snap.

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Music123 Equipment Review Contest, Win $250 Dollars!

Every live musician I know loves to buy new music equipment. If you’re like me then you want to get the absolute best value for the dollar as well. I don’t mind paying for the best equipment available because I’ve found that if you play the best equipment then you’re skills aren’t being held back by a poor instrument or amplifier. One of the most valuable tools on the Internet for finding the best equipment is the availability of customer reviews. I always read customer reviews before I purchase any piece of music gear. When you’ve read enough user equipment reviews it’s easy to spot the reviews that are written during moments of ‘new gear euphoria’. Any review that begins “I’ve had this guitar all weekend and I love it!” isn’t really going to all that valuable. I personally like reading reviews written by people that have lived with the instrument or piece of equipment they’re reviewing for a while. That’s why the equipment I review on Live Musician Central is equipment that I’ve owned and used onstage with me for some time. It’s for this reason that I find the Music123 Customer Review Contest to be so intriguing. (more…)
Live Musicians In New York City

The Ebony Hillbillies at NYC Subway

I took a 3-day trip to New York City last week just to hang out, take in the sights and get a feel for how live musicians worked in the Big Apple. It was a great trip and I had a lot of fun seeing the usual tourist attractions like the Statue Of Liberty, Empire State Building and, of course, the Hard Rock Cafe. I also took in a couple of Broadway shows seeing “Wicked” as well as “Phantom Of The Opera”, both were truly excellent. As I made my way around the city I took particular notice of all the live musicians everywhere I went. There really seem to be a lot of places to play music in New York City so today I’m going to talk about a couple.

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Sunday Funnies – Wafflehouse Prank Call

Today on Live Musician Central I’m putting up a classic prank call by Group X. It’s not my usual music related funnies but it was too rich to pass up. Group X also has some classic funny songs you can find on YouTube.

Group X – Wafflehouse Prank Call
Live Musician Central – Weekend Album Picks 3-14-09

Every week on Live Musician Central we pick the top new album releases for the week. In case you’re wondering how we determine the top album releases, we base it solely on the level of music industry marketing behind the album. These particular releases may not be our personal favorites but they are being pushed like crazy by the music industry. How does that help us as live performing musicians? It keeps us in step with the rest of the industry and can also serve as a reference to what’s going to be played by radio, tv and dj’s across the nation. That can help you with song selection for your band when building your set lists. Knowing what people will be listening to will help you when programming your break music that you play during band breaks. It’s a fact that marketing by the music industry plays a huge part in what people in general are listening to. That can help your band appear on top of the scene by playing songs that people are going to be familiar with. We do put some classic albums and personal favorites up as well.

We feature MP3 downloads from Amazon.com because of their extremely high quality (256kbps MP3) and excellent pricing. You can save a bundle downloading from Amazon.com and everything you download from them is DRM free and can be played on multiple music players including iPods and iPhones. We also include links to the top music retailer, iTunes!
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Live Mixing Tips For Small Venues And Small Budget

In Stereo Plays A Small Room

In my live band we have a microphone on every drum and on every piece of equipment onstage and it’s all run through the main P.A.. It’s by far the best way to get a good mix and the best way to control your live sound level. Of course we have invested a lot of money in our live setup and we also play fairly big venues so having everything mic’ed up and mixed through the P.A. is not a problem for us. But there are times when we play a smaller room and we don’t need to mic everything up. There was even a time when all we could afford was a drumset, instruments and amplifiers and a microphone with a small P.A. for the singer. That’s when it can be tricky to get a decent live mix. So what’s the best way to get a good live mix without mic’ing everything? Here are some tips for you to help you with your small venue and and small budget live mixing.

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Live Musician Central Dance Set List 7, iTunes iMix

This is set list number 7 in the Live Musician Central series of downloadable dance set lists. The songs that comprise the set lists have been chosen from the Mobile Beat 200 Best Dance Songs Of All Time. In the clubs these songs are all proven floor fillers every time they’re played. Even if your band doesn’t learn all these songs they’re essential to have loaded on your iPod or portable music player to play during your band breaks. My band has been able to keep the crowd up dancing and happy by being able to play all their requests (even the requests the band doesn’t know) by having these songs on the iPod. We put on the audience requests during band breaks and having these songs has been a real life saver. It’s amazing how many times the songs in these set lists get requested. It’s a great way to keep the party going all night long! I wrote a post you should read about the advantages of using iTunes iMix feature to get your band on the same page while learning songs called Creating A Setlist Using iTunes iMix. So please download and enjoy Live Musician Central Dance Set List #7. (more…)
Keith Emerson Piano Solo

Keith Emerson is one of the best keyboard showmen in all of live music. He’s not just a proficient keyboard player, his appeal really lies in his ability to combine showmanship with ability. Keith really has a unique keyboard playing style which is very percussive. He has fast hands and can play very technical classical music. As I said, he doesn’t just sit there and dazzle you with his keyboard playing skill. In concert he has been known to jam knives into his Hammond organ to hold down specific keys while he plays. He’s been seen jumping over his keyboard and tipping it upside down and playing it in that position. He’s never been afraid to experiment and express music with simple sound manipulation. His Moog Synthesizer solo on the ELP song “Lucky Man” put synthesizer playing front and center in popular music.

In this clip, he’s playing a piano solo at the Montreaux festival in 1997. It’s a jazz festival and the progressive players really seem to step it up at this particular event. It’s fun to watch Keith as he just can’t resist doing zany things during the solo like playing a few hits with his elbow. That particular move’s musical relevance within the solo is questionable but the showmanship aspect of it is undeniable. That’s Keith Emerson in a nutshell. Watch this clip and you’ll get a little bit of understanding into what makes Keith tick. (more…)