Category: 3. Improve Your Live Band Skills

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

Live Musician Central Tribute To Keith Moon

Keith Moon of The Who

One of my very favorite drummers of all time is Keith Moon of The Who. He is the first drummer I remember ever focusing on with my complete attention while listening to a song. I remember being simply blown away by how varied his drumming was and how he could play so much yet still carry the rhythm of the song. The way Keith interacted with The Who’s music is simply perfect and The Who were a great band because of the way Keith played. Keith had a way of intertwining with the vocals, bass and guitar that would lift the other instruments up without overpowering them. It always amazed me how he could sound so scattered and out of time, yet be so perfectly in sync with the music.

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Master Sony Acid Pro 6 With Power!: The Official Guide

Acid Pro 6 Power! The Official Guide

If you’ve been reading Live Musician Central for very long I’m sure you know I absolutely love Sony Acid Pro 6 Professional Music Workstation software. It’s extremely powerful and can be the heart of your own home recording studio. Sony Acid Pro 6 is a very capable and deep program which is easy to learn but can be a challenge to master. Today I want to turn you on to an excellent guide written by D. Erik Franks called “ACID Pro 6 Power!: The Official Guide“.

Acid Pro 6 Power is a deep, detailed look at the capabilities of Sony Acid Pro 6. The users manual that comes with Sony Acid Pro 6 will tell you the basic features of Acid but it doesn’t take you very deep into how to get the full benefit of those features. That’s where “Acid Pro 6 Power!” comes in handy to fill all those missing details. There is something for every skill level in “Acid Pro 6 Power!” and it can take your music productions to the very highest quality possible with Sony Acid. (more…)
Need A Change Of Pace? Go Unplugged and Play An Acoustic Gig

Kiss – Unplugged in 1995

The “rock band plays acoustic gig” format really came to popularity when MTV introduced the “Unplugged” concert series. The series began in the ’89/’90 season with a concert by Squeeze with Elliot Easton (of The Cars) and Syd Straw. From there the series took off, soon every live musician was working up an acoustic set of their music that they could play in smaller, more intimate concert settings.

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Be Prepared For Your Gig With This Basic List Of Essential Items
Pete Townshend Winds Up To Trash The Stage

When you’re preparing to play a gig, it’s extremely important to prepare for the unexpected. Murphy’s law seems to always rear it’s ugly head at a gig. Here are a few basic essentials every live musician can do to prepare for equipment problems and breakdowns at a gig.

Make sure you bring some basic tools. At the very minimum you should have a Leatherman Multi-Tool and a flashlight. It’s a really good idea to have a soldering iron as well. You can fill out your toolkit with the following:
- Super Glue
- Electrical Tape
- Duct Tape
- Cable Tester or Multi-Meter
- Battery Tester or Multi-Meter
- Allen Wrenches
- Wire Cutters
You’ll also want to have some extra basic equipment accessories such as: (more…)
Jimi Hendrix Performs Voodoo Chile

It goes without saying that Jimi Hendrix is one of the most influential guitarists that ever lived. It has been argued that he’s the greatest guitarist ever. Whether you love him or hate him, I’m sure you probably have a Hendrix tune that you love.

Here’s my favorite Jimi Hendrix tune, Voodoo Chile. There’s just something about this song that grabs me. I think it’s just the sheer energy and noise in the tune that I love. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this classic video of Jimi Hendrix performing Voodoo Chile. Make sure you vote in the poll below.

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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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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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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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What Is The Typical Band Lineup

The Beatles – 4-piece perfection

So you’re a musician and you want to become a live performing musician. You want to start a band and you’re not sure what instruments you need to get a functional band together. The beautiful thing about playing in a band is the fact that you’re going to be playing with other people. You won’t be a solo artist anymore when you play in a band. In fact, the definition of band is “An unofficial association of people or groups.” So I guess technically you only need two people to start a band. The first thing you need to decide is what type of music you’re going to be playing. If you decide you want to play hard rock then the lineup requirements will be different than if you are playing bluegrass. How many people you have in your band can really affect your band chemistry as well. Musician’s tend to have large personalities and the more you add, the more interesting and challenging things can become. Let’s take a look at some typical band lineups.

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Improve Your Skills By Playing With Other People

Matt Rushton and Tom Warnick

I remember when I was starting to learn guitar, I wanted to be in a band so bad but I didn’t think I would ever be good enough to do it. I would practice in my room for hours and I finally got to a point where I was pretty good. The next logical step was to start playing with other people. I was nervous, but when the chance presented itself, I seized the opportunity. When I got together with other people to play music, my skills as a live musician increased more than I ever could have imagined. There’s just nothing like the interaction that you get playing with other musicians.

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