In Stereo Gigging The 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City
Nothing, and I mean nothing, will have your live band working together like having a gig scheduled. When you have a deadline for a performance the whole band will suddenly become more focused on creating a great final product to present at the show. The constant tweaking of parts will stop, songs that just aren’t coming together will be dropped and the songs you do well will really start to get tight. Having an upcoming gig will give your band a sense of urgency that really will help you to polish things up and make them presentable. (more…)
This clip is of bass playing genius Billy Sheehan and guitar virtuoso Paul Gilbert. These two great live musicians played together in their band, Mr. Big. One of the highlights of the show is when the two players took center stage and solo’d on their respective instruments.
This clip is a great example of two extreme players going back and forth and doing some truly incredible stuff. It’s long, but worth the watch. (more…)
For live performing musicians, Christmas gigs can be the most lucrative and funnest gigs of the entire year. There’s just something about the season that brings out the best in people. Some of the best times I’ve had at gigs are the ones I’ve played right around Christmas. The celebratory and giving spirit of the season seems to really affect the club owners and especially the audiences at this time of year.
A good show is really the coming together of the performer and the audience. Around the holidays people are just ready to relax and have a good time. This really becomes evident as you play gigs around the holidays. The audience is so eager to celebrate that our jobs as entertainers become much easier. You can really draw on the audience for that extra push of energy to take your show to the next level. Having a successful gig at Christmas is as easy as keeping things light and happy onstage. You don’t even have to play exceptionally well as long as you’re having a good time. It’s a great time to market your band because people will remember you if they have had a really good time. Associating your band with good memories is fantastic marketing. (more…)
I get asked this question all the time “Should I get guitar lessons?” and it’s a question that’s quite tricky to answer. As soon as people find out that I’m a performing live musician they ask if I had music lessons. The reason these questions are tricky is because I did take music lessons in general but I’ve only taken about 4 formal guitar lessons in my life and that was because it was required in my college music studies. I’m a self taught guitarist, it’s my best instrument and I play guitar professionally in two bands. So when I tell people, yes they should get guitar lessons, it’s hard to justify formal guitar lessons from my personal experience since I never really had them. I’m going to answer the, should I get guitar lessons, question today on the blog.
The answer is different for everyone and it depends on what other musical training you’ve had. Let’s start off easy, if you’ve never had any musical training on any other instrument then yes, you should definitely get guitar lessons right now and hang in there taking the lessons until you have a good command of the guitar and a really good grasp of guitar theory and music theory. (more…)
Where Were You is my favorite Jeff Beck guitar instrumental. It’s from his Guitar Shop album and when I first heard it, I couldn’t believe how beautiful it was. The notes that he achieves on his Stratocaster are just unbelievable. I’ve tried to hit them and I have had some success but not like the great Jeff Beck. He gets so much out of his Strat that it just defies description. You just have to listen and stand in awe of his skill.
Yes it’s the great Brian May, one of the greatest live guitarists of all time. Brian has made some incredible recordings with Queen over the years but his live performance is simply off the charts. This guitar solo is from the Queen DVD “Live At Wembley Stadium“. Brian’s solo is really fun to listen to as he plays around with delay’s and harmonies.
This is one of Queen’s most popular recorded live shows and the filming is excellent as well as the sound. The sound on this DVD is mixed in DTS Surround Sound and it’s expansive and full. I highly recommend Queen – Live At Wembly Stadium and you can pick it up from the Live Musician Central Store for the incredibly low price of $12.99 . (more…)
Thanksgiving week is upon us and I was just thinking about how thankful I am to be a musician and for all the incredible music that we have available to us. It’s really a great time to be a Live Musician with all the fantastic technology available to use in the creation of new music. The digital age has given us the ability to build affordable and extremely powerful digital audio workstations. Computer and audio interface hardware is very affordable and there are some fantastic software packages that give us unprecedented control over our music. It really is a great time to be a musician so here are some things I’m thankful for to celebrate this Thanksgiving.
I’ve been featuring some live musicians who are masters at their particular instrument and this week we have bass guitar master Billy Sheehan. This is a video of Billy with his live band playing his song called “The Suspense Is Killing Me” from his Cosmic Troubadour album. Just an FYI, you can get Cosmic Troubadour from Amazon.com MP3 downloads for the extremely low price of $6.99 for 15 song! Can’t beat that… (more…)
Being a guitarist in a live band, I’m constantly asked “What guitar do you play?”. The truth is I have a modest guitar collection of about 12 guitars so I play a lot of different guitars. But there is one particular model that stands out above the rest. That is my beloved Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster. I actually have two American Deluxe Strats and A Jeff Beck Signature Strat that is very similar to an American Deluxe Stratocaster. The two I’d like to talk about today are my 2004 50th Anniversary American Deluxe Stratocaster and my 2005 American Deluxe Ash Stratocaster. They are both very similar to each other and incredible guitars.
I got the 50th Anniversary American Deluxe Stratocaster when it was released in 2004 because I had always wanted a collectible guitar and I love the Stratocaster. My Jeff Beck Signature Strat had been serving me well for about 9 years and I was looking for another good guitar. The reason I got the American Deluxe version rather than the American Standard version was because I absolutely love the feature set that is on the American Deluxe Stratocaster.
John "Mitch" Mitchell, July 9, 1947 – November 12, 2008
The world lost another legendary live musician and rock pioneer on November 12, 2008 when Jimi Hendrix Experience drummer Mitch Mitchell was found deceased in his room at the Benson Hotel in downtown Portland, Oregon. He was 62 years old which still seems far too young to die. It’s a sad day indeed as Mitchell was an integral part of the music behind the great Jimi Hendrix.
Mitch Mitchell was one third of the great rock trio that made up the Jimi Hendrix Experience. His drumming style was a great example of jazz/rock fusion. He would switch between a traditional jazz drum grip and a matched rock style grip when he played. His playing was very active and he had a great feel for filling the space around Jimi’s lead guitar and vocal work. When Jimi would take a guitar solo Mitch would have a very active interplay with the guitar on the drums. It’s really a pleasure to listen to Mitch and Jimi play music together. (more…)
