Category: 1. Live Musician Central

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Take Care Of Your Hearing With Musicians Earplugs

Pete Townshend – Rock Induced Deafness

One of the most important pieces of advice I can give to young musicians is simply to take good care of your hearing. I was diagnosed with a hearing loss when I was 16 years old and had only been playing in a band a couple of years. I was still pretty careless with my hearing for much of my early career. Finally the hearing specialists started telling me I needed hearing aids. That got my attention and I’ve been very careful with my hearing the last 15 years or so.

The best thing I’ve done for my hearing is to get a pair of custom molded, sonic filter type earplugs made specially for musicians. I have the Westone ES49 Custom Fit Earplugs. Mine are a light tan color and are barely visible from the audience. They sound fantastic and because they are custom molded to my ear they’re extremely comfortable.

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Surround Yourself With Better Musicians

Whaddya mean I suck?!?

I’ve had a lot of guys tell me that they think they suck badly after they hear me play. I know, I’m stroking my ego quite a bit there but now that I’ve been playing for so many years I’m a pretty good guitar player. The thing is, I remember when I was just starting out playing in bands. I felt so far behind the others that I didn’t think there was any way I’d ever be as good as the guys I was playing with. It would have been very easy for me to say “That’s it, I suck so I’m hanging it up and quitting.” but I didn’t do that. I kept fighting to get better. When you play with other musicians that are better than you are then you can use the situation to your advantage.

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Settle Your Nerves – Dealing With Stage Fright

Elvis – Dancing or just nervous?

I’ve had my bouts of stage fright over the course of my career although I’ve never had it really bad. I’ve played with other musicians who were just overwhelmed with stage fright. I’ve played with guys that were throwing up before every gig because they got so nervous.

Let me start off with a little quote from The King himself, Mr. Elvis Presley: “I’ve never gotten over what they call stage–fright. I go through it every show. I’m pretty concerned, I’m pretty much thinking about the show. I never get completely comfortable with it, and I don’t let the people around me get comfortable with it, in that I remind them that it’s a new crowd out there, it’s a new audience, and they haven’t seen us before. So it’s got to be like the first time we go on.” – taken from http://quotations.about.com

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Keeping Your Band Together – The Weakest Link

Ringo – The Weak Link?

One of the biggest challenges you face in any band is keeping the band from falling apart. I’ve already talked about having a band leader but the fact of the matter is, the members are still there by choice. There are a lot of different things that can pull a band apart.

One thing that’s inevitable in a band is what I call the “Weakest Link” syndrome. I don’t care how good everyone is, someone in the group will be the weakest link. Let me give you a few names and just think about their role as the “weakest link”.

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Band Communication, Have A Meeting

The Who Need A Meeting

One of the things I’ve encountered in my career playing in bands is the importance of keeping everybody on the same page. One thing that is constant is the fact that things constantly change. The band may have started out with one vision, one goal and a clear path to get there. As time goes on and people grow and the band gets out playing in front of people those things will most likely change. Before long, the band that started out as a rock-n-roll roadhouse band is playing a bunch of country music and not everyone in the band is happy about that. Another thing that happens to bands is personality conflicts. They’re inevitable and unavoidable. Sometimes there are hurt feelings because of things that have been said or done in the heat of the moment. You can make it through these things as long as the band keeps the ability to talk to each other openly and honestly.

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Can I Play Your Guitar?

No you can't use my microphone!

Man if I had $5 for every time I’ve been asked “Can I Play Your Guitar?” I’d be rich! I’ve had people stumble up to me at gigs drunk out of their mind and ask if they can sit in with the band, and of course play my guitar to do it. I once had a guy grab my 2nd guitar off the stage while I was playing and play air guitar with it. Lucky for that guy he was a visiting Japanese dignitary at a marketing convention that didn’t speak any english. I think he knew enough from my reaction to quickly put my guitar back. I guess some words are universal. So when somebody asks me “Can I Play Your Guitar?” my policy is to simply say “No”. There are several reasons I’ve learned to just say no over the years.

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Gas Prices and The Gigging Musician

Gas Price Chat

Let’s face it, gas prices are taking a heavy toll on every industry in the U.S.. Musicians are no better off than any other travelling worker. I’ve been reading about a lot of music groups having to turn down gigs just because the amount of travel involved made it impossible to make any profit on a gig.

The problem we face in terms of gas prices is all the equipment we have to haul. That makes it pretty much impossible for a band to carpool together. In my band it takes 4 vehicles to get everything to a show. Most of our gigs are within 45 miles of our house but one of our members always has to travel 100 miles or more to get to a gig. Needless to say, gas costs really add up when you’re having to travel that far.

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The Quest For Good Tone

Pink Floyd – Capturing Good Tone at Live 8

What is good tone? Well, the dictionary defines it as “The distinctive property of a complex sound.” I define tone as “The sound that brings me the most pleasure to listen to.” As a guitarist, I’m especially tuned in to the tone of my guitar. My guitar’s tone is the result of my guitar, amp and player’s touch working together to create that “distinctive property” that is the most pleasurable for me to listen to.

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How To Practice

Dream Theater – Masters Of Practicing

How many times have you wished you could be better at your instrument? Or wished you could be a better singer? We all know that the best way to improve is to practice our craft. It’s the biggest no-brainer there is about being a musician. To get better, one has to practice. I’ve read interviews with the worlds elite musicians and they’re quoted all the time saying things like “I practiced 8 hours a day.” or “I even practice my guitar on the toilet.” That’s all good and fine but how many of us really have that kind of time, or actually want to practice on the toilet? Not me, but I have found an excellent bunch of ways to practice that really work and won’t take all your time.

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A Band Is Not A Pure Democracy – Get A Leader

John Lennon Leads The Beatles

When I first started playing in bands I was very young, 14 years old actually. All the rest of the guys were about 3 years older than me. I knew nothing about playing live rock-n-roll and was more than willing to have the older guys show me the ropes. The leader in my first band was the Bass player. He was a great leader and we never felt like we had a dictator at the helm. That band was such a great experience that I’m still playing today because of it.

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