Category: 3. Improve Your Live Band Skills

Become a better player, singer, showman and Live Band.

Music Theory Explained In The Guitar Grimoire – A Notated Intervallic Study Of Scales

The Guitar Grimoire – A Notated Intervallic Study Of Scales

The ongoing quest for every live musician is to increase their knowledge and playing skills. When you play in a live band it’s really to your advantage to have a good grasp of general music theory. Every guitarist I know wants to be able to play blazing fast guitar licks but most of them fall short when it comes to knowing what scales or notes to play and when to play them. I’ve played with guys that were lightning fast but their playing wasn’t musical because of their poor note selection.

The other day I wrote about the excellent book “The Guitar Grimoire – Scales and Modes” which introduces you to the concept of music scales and modes as well as telling you which chords to play them over. The whole point to studying and learning the scales and modes is being able to put them into practice while your band plays the chordal harmony for them. Today I’m going to talk about the Scales and Modes companion book “The Guitar Grimoire – A Notated Intervallic Study Of Scales“. (more…)
Master Scales And Modes Music Theory With The Guitar Grimoire

The Guitar Grimoire – Scales & Modes

I’m always trying to increase my knowledge and skills on the guitar and keyboard so I can get better at playing in my live band. I’ve been playing guitar for about 28 years but it seems like there’s always something more to learn. I’ve got a good background of music theory but I’ve always wanted to be better at applying various scales and modes to different chord structures. Today I want to tell you about an excellent book I just picked up called The Guitar Grimoire – Scales & Modes by Adam Kadmon.

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In A Live Band, Multiple Skills Will Increase Your Value

Frank and Kyle Are Both Multi-Instrumentalists

One thing I’ve noticed in my years of playing in a live band is how important members are that can do multiple things in the band. I was in a band where we had a lead guitar player that was a good lead guitar player, but that’s all he did. He didn’t sing lead or sing backup, he only brought his guitar and his amp and he didn’t book any of the gigs. Yes he would have the songs all learned and he played his parts perfectly but he just didn’t seem to contribute as much as the other members of the band.

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How A Handy Pocket Metronome Can Increase Your Playing Speed And Accuracy

Seiko DM70 Pocket Metronome

Playing in a live band can be very challenging rhythmically because the thing that really makes a live band sound great is keeping the rhythm and groove happening. It’s so important to practice to some sort of rhythm when you work on your instrument whether it be keyboards, guitar, bass or drums. I’ve written about practicing to a beat and not a metronome and I still feel that practicing to a beat is the best way to get good at playing rhythmically. Practicing to different types of beats will teach you to play in a musical groove. With that being said, there are times when you want to practice with a plain old metronome.

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How To Deal With An Emergency That Threatens To Cancel A Band Gig

In Stereo with Frank Lee

A couple weeks ago my live band , In Stereo, was faced with a situation that you hope you never have to deal with. We had an important gig scheduled and one day before the gig our drummer, Ted, came down with a life threatening staff infection in his ankle. It was very obvious as soon as he was admitted into the hospital that there was no way he would be able to play the gig. That left us with a commitment to fulfill with the club that had us booked and as you know, the show must go on. So what are your options in a live band when one of your core members goes down? (more…)
Beat The iTunes Price Increase and Download MP3’s From Amazon.com

Download High Quality MP3's From Amazon.com

As a live musician, one of the most essential tools of our trade is having a good collection of current and “greatest of all time” music. With the advent of the Internet, downloading great music has become as easy as picking a song and clicking on the download button. What’s really great for musicians playing in live bands is the ease of getting everyone in your band to download the same song. It makes things a lot easier when your band is learning songs to be able to send out a download link for the songs you’re learning. As you know, iTunes is currently the largest retailer of music in the United States. CD sales continue to slide as sales of music in downloadable digital form continue to increase.

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Some Tips For Memorizing Song Lyrics

Bill says, "What was the next lyric?"

One of the most essential skills a live singer must develop is the ability to memorize song lyrics. As a singer in a live band you may be called on to memorize 40 songs or more worth of lyrics. That seems like an overwhelming amount of song lyrics to memorize when you look at that number. The fact is, singers do it all the time and believe it or not it’s not an insurmountable task. As with everything that you’ll do in a band, it begins with the first step. Today I’m going to talk about some tips that will help you in your quest to memorize a setlist worth of song lyrics.

All big tasks are easier when you break them down into smaller parts. The first thing you need to do is decide what song you want to memorize. It helps if you’re already familiar with the song but even if it’s a new song that you’re not familiar with there is a specific way to approach memorizing every song that you want to learn. The first thing you should do is find a copy of the lyrics. We used to have to sit with a recording of the song and struggle to figure out what the singer was saying. Doing that took a lot of time and led to a lot of lyrical errors. (more…)
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…)
Live Musician Central Dance Set List 6, iTunes iMix

This is set list number 6 in the Live Musician Central series of downloadable dance set lists. The songs in the set lists have been chosen from the Mobile Beat 200 Best Dance Songs Of All Time. They are proven in the clubs to fill the dance floor everytime they’re played. Even if your band doesn’t learn all these songs they’re great to have on your iPod or portable music player to play during breaks. My band has been able to keep the crowd happy by being able to at least play requests on the iPod 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 #6. (more…)