Live Musician Central

Author: Live Musician Central

Get A Band Prenup

Guns-N-Roses Before Things Went Horribly Wrong

Okay there’s not really such a thing as a band prenup so I’ll explain what I’m talking about with a couple stories. One of my good friends was in a band and that band needed a P.A. System. No single person in the band had enough money to pay for the P.A. so everybody in the band decided to chip in some money to pay for the P.A. system. Everyone couldn’t chip in the same amount so a couple of the guys put in more money than the rest of the band. After the P.A. was bought and paid for, the only person in the band that could store, transport and setup the P.A. was the person that had contributed the least amount of money in the band. I’m sure you know where I’m going with this, the band eventually broke up and they were left with the dilemma of “who owns the P.A.?” The way it ended up, was the guy that was storing and hauling the P.A. just kept it and moved to a different state, never to be heard from again. So everyone else that had contributed to the P.A. was out everything they had put into it.

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Sunday Funnies – OK Go – Here It Goes Again

This is one of my favorite choreographed music videos. It didn’t cost a lot to make of course but the time involved working out all those moves on the treadmills and then choregraphing everything must have been a lot. It does take a lot of creativity and at Live Musician Central, creativity counts!

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Live Musician Central – Weekend Album Picks 10-5-08

Every weekend I pick several albums to post on Live Musician Central. This week iTunes has released a list of it’s best sellers of 2007. This is a great opportunity to check out and download the top music from iTunes. Remember, iTunes is now the largest retailer of music in the United States.

The other albums I put up are determined by a couple factors. I usually put up a couple that are being heavily promoted by the music industry. These may not be albums that I particularly like but they are albums that are going to be prominent in the public conscience. It’s good for us as musicians to stay current with what’s being promoted by the industry. We can gauge what we’re doing with what is being pushed out there. It’s also a good source to choose new music for your band to learn and play live or to have on the iPod to play during band breaks. The reasoning here is that you want to play music that people will know and since the albums I post on Live Musician Central are being so heavily promoted, your chances of people knowing the music at your shows is very high.

The rest of the albums that I post are either personal favorites or they are certified classic albums that have sold millions of copies and are familiar to a lot of people. I also like to post a few links to iTunes and a few links to Amazon’s music service. Amazon has DRM free MP3’s that are ripped at 256kbps which is excellent quality at a killer price. So make sure you check them out!

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How To Get Your Band In Tune

Peterson Stroboflip VS-F

I’m going to talk about a common problem that I hear quite often when I’m out listening to bands. It’s a problem I’ve encountered working with various musicians in my studio as well. The problem that I’m talking about is the use of several different electronic tuners while tuning the various instruments in a band. You would think that a tuner is a tuner and that they’re all properly calibrated but the truth is that any individual tuner can be slightly out of calibration. If you have two different tuners and they’re both a little bit out of calibration, let’s say one is slightly sharp and the other is slightly flat, you’ll hear a big difference in tuning between the different instruments that have been tuned on them. The audience will simply hear an out of tune band which isn’t good for any performance by a live musician.

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The Peterson 490-ST AutoStrobe Tuner

Peterson 490-ST AutoStrobe Tuner

I have a Peterson 490-ST AutoStrobe Tuner that is by far the most accurate and best tuner I have ever used. It is a strobe tuner so it has unparalleled accuracy when it comes to tuning your instrument. I use the Peterson 490-ST AutoStrobe Tuner to set the intonation on my guitars and it works flawlessly.

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How To Request A Song From The Band…

Typical Audience Member Requesting A Song

I don’t know who originally wrote this but I’ve seen it on a few forums and Blogs. If you’re the author, leave a comment and I’ll give you credit. It’s just so funny I had to post it on Live Musician Central.

How To Request A Song From The Band…

When requesting a song from the band, just say “play …. my song!” We have chips implanted in our heads with an unlimited database of the favorite tunes of every patron who ever walked into a bar and all songs ever recorded so feel free to be vague, we love the challenge.If we say we really don’t remember that tune you want, we’re only kidding. Bands do know every song ever recorded, so keep humming. Hum harder if need be… it helps jog the memory, or just repeat your request over and over again.

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The Amazing Ebow Plus

One of the most interesting devices to come along for guitarists and bass guitarists is the Ebow. It’s a small handheld device that you hold just above your guitar string. The Ebow causes the string to vibrate using magnetic energy which gived the effect of a bowed cello string. It’s really an amazing little device and it’s been used on a lot of recordings over the years. The Ebow Plus is an updated version of the classic Ebow. The Ebow Plus gets the strings moving a lot easier than the old Ebow which required you to pick the string to get it moving.

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How To Keep Your Band Set List Fresh

Led Zeppelin Set List

One of the most common problems I’ve seen playing in bands is the fact that bands don’t change their set lists often enough. Having a good set list and maintaining it is essential stagecraft. There are two common problems that arise with set lists. First, a band will learn 40 songs and then play them for the next 5 years without ever changing them out with new material. Second, bands will play the same songs in the exact same order every night for 5 years. The reason I say 5 years is because that’s the typical life of a band, especially when you don’t change up your set list. So how do you avoid these pitfalls?

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Sunday Funnies – So You Want To Start A Rock Band

I found this great cartoon over on Calico Monkey, it’s a really cool Blog about cartoon animation written by Will Reinhardt. I thought you’d enjoy this one!

🙂

So You Want To Start A Rock Band

Calico Monkey: Watch Cartoons | Cartoon Software | Animation Programs
Live Musician Central – Weekend Album Picks 9-27-08

Every weekend I pick several albums to post on Live Musician Central. This week iTunes has released a list of it’s best sellers of 2007. This is a great opportunity to check out and download the top music from iTunes. Remember, iTunes is now the largest retailer of music in the United States.

The other albums I put up are determined by a couple factors. I usually put up a couple that are being heavily promoted by the music industry. These may not be albums that I particularly like but they are albums that are going to be prominent in the public conscience. It’s good for us as musicians to stay current with what’s being promoted by the industry. We can gauge what we’re doing with what is being pushed out there. It’s also a good source to choose new music for your band to learn and play live or to have on the iPod to play during band breaks. The reasoning here is that you want to play music that people will know and since the albums I post on Live Musician Central are being so heavily promoted, your chances of people knowing the music at your shows is very high.

The rest of the albums that I post are either personal favorites or they are certified classic albums that have sold millions of copies and are familiar to a lot of people. I also like to post a few links to iTunes and a few links to Amazon’s music service. Amazon has DRM free MP3’s that are ripped at 256kbps which is excellent quality at a killer price. So make sure you check them out!
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