Michael Kelly Firefly 4-String Acoustic-Electric Bass
Since discussing playing an acoustic gig in yesterdays post on Live Musician Central I figured I should talk about an excellent solution for bass players. I’d like to point you to the Michael Kelly Firefly 4-String Acoustic-Electric Bass. It’s a very affordable acoustic bass guitar and is an incredible bargain for the price. It can be very difficult to find an acoustic bass that sounds good unplugged but the Michael Kelly Firefly really sounds good unplugged. Of course, it’s on-board electric pickup gives you the ability to plug in and that’s where this bass really shines.
Musician’s Friend has really been rolling out the deals to get us all to start our Christmas shopping early this year. Today they released a special coupon code available to all readers of Live Musician Central. You can use this code to get up to $75 off your purchase from Musician’s Friend. Just click on the banner below and use the coupon code MF23.
Every live musician wants to save money. That’s why you owe it to yourself to check out Musician’s Friends rebate page. They have rebates on hundreds of items in every category from Live Sound to Accessories. Going to the rebate page is an easy way to start your shopping list and find some gifts for your buddies this year.
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.
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.
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.
There’s a couple of really good deals going on at Music123 that I wanted to make you aware of. Right now all the accessories ship free on orders over $49. That’s half the usual amount to get free shipping. You usually have to order $99 to get free shipping but for the accessories you only have to order $49 worth of stuff to get free shipping.
Second, there’s a great coupon code that you can use to get a 15% discount on all accessories. You can save a bunch of money by entering this coupon code during checkout when ordering accessories. Just click this link: 15% Off All Accessories with Coupon Code: B2S15 at Music123.com That’s a great deal and it’s not going to last forever. So if you’re a live musician, now is the perfect time to pick up some much needed accessories for you and your band.
That’s just a small sampling of the types of accessories that you can get right now at Music123. With the combined discounts of 15% off the price of the accessory and free shipping on orders over $49.00 you can save a bundle. So make sure you get in on the sale while you still can!
This weeks Offbeat Product from Music123 is such a cool device that I just had to post about it on Live Musician Central. It’s the Hiwatt Echo-Theremin. If you don’t know what a Theremin is it’s an extremely unique instrument. You’ve probably heard it in many old Sci-Fi movies making a ghostly whistling noise. Musically it was made famous in the Rock-N-Roll world when the Beach Boys played a Theremin solo on their song “Good Vibrations”, it’s that whistling, synth type sound. Yes the Theremin is cool and it’s a fun instrument to play around with.
Here’s a little history, the theremin was invented in 1920 by a Russian physicist named Lev Sergeiyvich Termin, his name was later changed toe Leon Theremin. So the instrument has been around for a while and has assumed many forms over the years. The unique thing is you play the instrument without touching it. A theremin usually has an antenna that works by changing the pitch as you move your hand closer or further away from the antenna. As you move your hand closer, the pitch gets higher. Move your hand away and the pitch gets lower. If you practice you can play some real music on the Theremin.
This is a really good YouTube video of famous guitarist Carl Verheyen discussing what he looks for in a Stratocaster and why the Stratocaster is his favorite guitar. I agree with Carl that the Stratocaster is the best electric guitar ever designed. Carl is not only a world famous session player but is also a very accomplished live musician who has been a member of Supertramp as well as his own live performing groups. This video lets you see Carl in action.
If you’ve read up on electronic tuners then I’m sure you know that strobe tuners are the most accurate tuners in the world. You can’t get any closer to perfect tuning electronically than with a strobe tuner. I have an excellent Peterson 490-ST Strobe Tuner that cost me around $750.00 to buy. I use that tuner at home to tune my piano and setup my guitars. I certainly don’t haul it around to gigs with me. What if I told you you could get a strobe tuner for $14.95?
