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Live Musician Central Site Changes And Improvements

Welcome To Live Musician Central

   Welcome to the new Live Musician Central! I’m sure you’re noticing some changes to the site. If this is your first visit to Live Musician Central, the site used to look a lot different than it does today. Either way, if you play in a live band you’ll still find all the excellent resources and product reviews that Live Musician Central has become famous for. You’ll also get to read about my experiences playing in live bands for the last 28 years.

   Over the next few days I will continue to make some changes to the site. I’m hoping to make it easier to read as well as easier to navigate. Some of the changes are purely cosmetic and some improve the overall functionality of Live Musician Central. There will be a few things that may not work correctly and possibly a broken link here and there. Let me know if you run across anything funky and I’ll try to get it fixed as quickly as possible.

   I hope you enjoy Live Musician Central and that you stop by regularly to check out what’s happening. If there are any topics you’d like to see covered, leave a comment and I’ll see what I can do. -Matt-
Sunday Funnies – Family Guy, Stewie Writes A Song

Okay being a songwriter myself, this song by none other than Stewie Griffin, really cracked me up. If you write songs it’s easy to relate to following the sound of the chord changes while writing lyrical content. Minor chords suggest sad lyrics, or troubled lyrics while major chords suggest happy and upbeat lyrics. It’s pretty funny watching Stewie hack out a song while explaining major and minor chord changes as well as tempo manipulation. All common songwriting techniques.

I hope you enjoy todays Sunday Funnies!

Family Guy – Music & Lyrics by Stewie Griffin

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Sound Wave Art Using A Chladni Plate

I’m into music which is the art of organizing sound so naturally anything created using soundwaves intrigues me. I saw this really interesting video on YouTube of a device called a Chladni Plate being used to create complex patterns out of salt.

The Chladni Plate is basically a flat surface that is resonated at different frequencies. Salt or sand is then scattered on the plate and complex and patterns emerge when the plate is resonated. It’s really fascinating to watch and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did. To learn more about Chladni Plate check out the Wiki page about it’s creator, Ernst Chladni.

Chladni Plate, Salt and Sound Waves
Playing Any Gig Is Better Than Playing No Gig At All

Matt Rushton Playing A Live Gig

I’m a guitarist who has been playing for almost 30 years now and I’ve played in live bands almost that entire time. The reason I play is simple, I love to play in front of live audiences. Some things I love about it are the feedback I get from an excited crowd as well as the joy that comes with really nailing the music when the band is playing well.

I’ve played a lot of different styles of music over the years. I’ve played primarily rock-n-roll but I’ve also played country, jazz, pop, electronic and other styles that don’t really fit into any category at all. I’ve played in original bands playing my own music as well as backing up other artists who write their songs. I’ve played in cover bands with all kinds of lineups from two-piece bands all the way up to full size big bands. I’ve also spent time playing in pit orchestras for live stage plays. (more…)
Coupon Code To Save 15% On Guitar Accessories At Music123

Hey all you guitarists that rock hard in a live band! Right now you can save 15% on Guitar Accessories at Music123. If you’re like me, you go through strings and picks like water so it’s a great time to stock up on these very necessary guitar accessories. You can now load up on my favorite guitar strings, Dean Markley Blue Steel and save a bundle of money in the process.

All you have to do is enter the coupon code GUITAR1 at checkout to save your 15%. Make sure you get your accessories now because this sale ends on September 16, 2009. Just follow the link below and start shopping!
Save 15% on Great Name Brand Guitar Accessories at Music123.com (coupon: Guitar1, exp: 9/16)
Blink-182 at McKay Center, Orem, Utah September 7, 2009

Blink-182

   One of my favorite pop-punk bands is Blink-182. So when I heard they were coming to town I decided to take my two oldest sons and go check them out. They played at the McKay Events Center in Orem, Utah on September 7, 2009.

   Blink-182 is a 3-piece punk band consisting of Tom DeLonge on guitar and vocals, Mark Hoppus on bass and vocals, and Travis Barker on drums. In case you hadn’t heard, Travis Barker survived a plane crash on September 28, 2008 and suffered second and third degree burns on his lower body and torso. He was very lucky to survive and is still able to play drums as well as ever.

   Blink-182 took the stage and immediately launched into “Dumpweed”. You could immediately tell they had the energy to put on a rockin’ show on this night. They followed that up with “Feeling This” from their landmark 2003 album ‘Blink 182’. The guitars were mixed too low in the mix at the beginning of the show and there were some technical problems with one of the guitar changes. Tom DeLonge let his guitar tech have an earful about the guitar not working properly and made him apologize to the audience. It was all in good form though and they had the guitar mix fixed by about the 4th song.

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Which Beatle Are You Quiz

With the realease of the new ‘The Beatles: Rock Band’ game there has been a ton of hype around all things Beatles. Let’s face it, The Beatles changed Rock-N-Roll forever. At the beginning of their career, what really carried them, was the simple fact that they were one of the best live bands of all time. They’re one of my personal favorite bands and I’m really stoked to get the new game and give it a spin. The Beatles: Rock Band Limited Edition Premium Bundle has been getting 4 Star and 10 out 0f 10 reviews all over the internet.

One of the great things about The Beatles was the fact that they were truly a band but at the same time were made up of four very distinct personalities. So, to celebrate the release of ‘The Beatles: Rock Band’ I’m linking to a fun quiz titled: Which Beatle Are You? (more…)
Sunday Funnies – William Hung “She Bangs” Audition and Video

William Hung, just his name makes me laugh! It’s like a porn stars name… But talk about an unlikely celebrity. For today’s Sunday Funnies I’m posting up the original William Hung American Idol audition video so you see what kicked off his 15 minutes of fame. It’s an audition so bad that you just can’t ignore the poor guy.

I’m also posting up the music video that William Hung made to go with his studio recording of “She Bangs”. It totally cracks me up because William hates being touched and it’s funny to watch him pull away from all these beautiful women in the video. The “give me my backpack” scene at the end of the video is hilarious too. Enjoy! (more…)
Big Savings On Music Equipment At Musician’s Friend For Labor Day Weekend

Anybody that plays in a live band knows that it’s important to have professional quality music equipment to be able to get the job done right. We also like to save as much money as possible whenever we can. That’s why I’m always searching for killer sales on good music equipment. (more…)
Phil Collins – Take Me Home (Live)

This excellent video of the legendary Phil Collins is from his farewell tour with this show being in Paris, France. I really like this clip because of the great drumming at the beginning of the songs. Phil is in fine vocal form and I really enjoy the fact that Phil has Father Time playing bass in his live band. (more…)