The other day on Live Musician Central we did a review of The Beatles: Rock Band video game. One of the things we talked about was how amazing the animation was in the game. So today we’re posting up the video clips of the opening and closing animations of The Beatles: Rock Band so you can see for yourself how great they look. On our Playstation 3 system they look much better because the resolution is true HD.
The intro and outro videos were directed by Pete Candeland who is best known for animating The Gorillaz. The videos in The Beatles: Rock Band definitely have his unique style to them and they really take you into another world where The Beatles themselves rule. (more…)
Hard Days Night is my favorite Beatles movie simply because it seems so fresh and carefree. This is one of my favorite scenes in the movie with John Lennon horsing around with toy submarines in the bathtub. He just cracks me up doing all the funny voices and generally goofing off. I always get a good laugh out of it and I hope you do today as well. (more…)
It’s been done with with some great live bands such as AC/DC, Metallica and Aerosmith, but The Beatles Rock Band is like a dream come true for fans around the world. Harmonix has done an amazing job of bringing the music of the Beatles to life in an interactive setting, giving fans the chance to step into the shoes of any one of the Fab Four and play through their career.
From the time I popped in the game to when I had to force myself to turn it off, I was in Beatles heaven. The re-mastered audio tracks of the game sound amazing and the graphics are visually pleasing. Stages of the game are played in digital representations of the same venues the Beatles played in, such as the Ed Sullivan Show and Shea Stadium. The only stage that differs from the others is the Abbey Road recordings. Rather than show repeated scenes of the historic recording space, Harmonix created imaginative dreamscapes to represent the lyrics and tones of the music being played. (more…)
Today I have another of my custom programmed Fender Cyber-Twin SE preset sound patches for you to listen to and download. I use my Cyber-Twin SE in all kinds of live band settings because the amplifier is so incredibly versatile. I have programmed several ‘Special Effect’ type sound patches that I use when I need a specific sound to fill a spot in certain songs.
This sound, LMC Talk-Wah, was created specifically to mimic the sound of the Talkbox being used on the Nazarethsong “Hair Of The Dog” which my band plays. If you aren’t familiar with that song that’s okay, I play the lick in the sound clip below. The sound is similar to what Peter Frampton does on “Show Me The Way”.
It Might Get Loud – Jack White, Jimmy Page, The Edge
I’m always up for seeing a movie that has anything to do with the electric guitar or playing in a live band. So when I heard about the new movie titled “It Might Get Loud” featuring Jimmy Page, The Edge and Jack White, I knew I was going to have to go see it. I got that chance Saturday night at the Broadway Theater in Salt Lake City.
It Might Get Loud is about the relationship each of these musicians has with the electric guitar and also with music in general. At first glance I wondered who in their right mind would sit a legend like Jimmy Page down with a young player like Jack White to discuss the electric guitar? Their styles are so different and Jimmy has all these years of fascinating history all on his own. I also questioned the wisdom of bringing The Edge to the party since his style is so completely different from Jimmy and Jack’s. (more…)
Yup, it’s the Muppets singing about Reefer, Pot, Marijuana. Is it funny? I believe it is, that’s why it’s making it onto Live Musician Central’s Sunday Funnies.
I recently had a discussion with a good friend about how the 10,000 hour rule applies to musicians that play in a live band. If you haven’t heard of the 10,000 hour rule it simply states that if you spend 10,000 hours of deliberate practice on something you will become an expert. Deliberate practice being defined as a focused study and application of a skill or subject. If you’ve been working at your job for 10 years then you’re most likely an expert as 10 years job experience roughly translates into 10,000 hours of deliberate practice at your job.
I’m sure that if you’ve been doing the same job for 10 years that your co-workers probably consider you an expert at whatever your job function is. The same thing can be said for musicians. I’ve been playing in live bands for 28 years now and I have become an expert at playing in live bands through experience. I’ve put my 10,000 hours in by practicing my instrument, preparing for live performances, setting up, tearing down and hauling equipment. I’ve put the hours in working with agents, club managers and other musicians. I’ve put the hours in mixing sound, programming sound patches and running amplification. (more…)
I don’t know whether to laugh or be scared when I watch this parody of the Katy Perry song “I Kissed A Girl”. This parody is by YouTube user VenetianPrincess and it’s called the “Elderly Remix”. I guess it’s funny, that’s why it’s on the Live Musician Central Sunday Funnies! (more…)
I’m a huge fan of hard rockin’ AC/DC so I check in on this excellent live band to see what they’ve been up to from time to time. If you go to their website, www.acdc.com, you’ll see that they currently have a countdown timer running on their homepage. I did a little checking to see what I could find out about what AC/DC has up their sleeve.
The rumors are running wild in all the fan forums with speculations on everything from a new tour, a new album or a new box set just in time for Christmas. I put the most credence in the box set speculation simply because of the fact that they’ve created a brand new website called acdcbacktracks.com which is showing a video clip of some classic Bon Scott footage. (more…)
Highway 6 – L. to R. Erik Rushton, Heidi Nedreberg, Tom Nedreberg, Ted Townsend, Matt Rushton, Kyle Johnson
This last weekend I played in the excellent live band Highway 6 which is fronted by my good friends Heidi and Tom Nedreberg. I’ve been playing with Tom in various bands since the late 80’s and I’ve known Heidi since she was about 4 years old. So it’s been a fascinating project to be able to play with them in Highway 6.
Highway 6 is an original music band with Heidi and Tom sharing the songwriting duties. It’s been fun for me to play sideman in this band since I’m one of the primary songwriters in my all original band, Shufflin’ Noah. It’s kind of a luxury for me to be able to sit back and play my guitar parts while someone else does all the songwriting. Tom and Heidi do give me creative license on all the guitar parts I play so I really feel like I contribute to the overall sound of Highway 6.
So with all the songs written and the CD recorded and ready for release, it was time to play a live show. Playing live is what I’m all about so I was excited as usual to hit the stage with a brand new project. We rehearsed the songs pretty heavily for about a month before the gig. It was really interesting trying to remember what I had played in the studio. It was also a challenge to recreate the studio sound in a live show. We had to cut out some instrument parts that are found on the recording and fill up the songs with our live stage instrumentation. (more…)
