News, Reviews, and More!

Shop For Used Music Equipment At Musician’s Friend

I’m always on the hunt for great deals on live band equipment. I have no problem at all buying a piece of used gear on eBay but I do wish the warranties were better. It’s tough to find a piece of used equipment that comes with a decent warranty and return policy.

That’s one reason I like to shop at Musician’s Friend. They have an excellent return policy so you can make sure a piece of equipment is really what you want before you’re stuck with it forever. They have a 45-Day Satisfaction Guarantee on anything that you buy from them and that includes their excellent selection of used equipment.

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Chickenfoot – “Oh Yeah” Music Video

   I’ve been enjoying the Chickenfoot album more and more now that I’ve listened to it a few times. I did a Chickenfoot album review when the album came out and I’ve decided that it’s actually quite good. It’s just good to hear a group of great musicians that you know will make all of us that play in a live band proud when they get onstage. There’s nothing canned about good, hard Rock-N-Roll.

   Today I’m posting up the first music video from the Chickenfoot album. This song is titled “Oh Yeah” and has some good Led Zeppelin type vibes to it. That could be because the Chickenfoot album was produced by legendary producer Andy Johns who also produced Led Zeppelin albums.

   This is a pretty basic music video but it shows the band having a good time and the audio quality is excellent!     (more…)
Should You Bi-Amp Your P.A. System?

Rane AC 22S Crossover – The Key To Your Bi-Amp System

There are a lot of different ways to run a P.A. System in your live band. Depending on the size of your gigs, your P.A. requirements can be very different. If you’re just playing a small room such as a coffee house for 20-30 people then using powered speakers may be the way to go. If you’re playing medium sized to large clubs, it may be time to step up to a bi-amped P.A. System.

So what is bi-amping? Put simply, it’s using two separate amplifiers on your P.A. System with one of the amps powering the low frequencies and the other amp powering the mid/high frequencies. (more…)
Sunday Funnies – Tenacious D “Rock Your Socks Off”

This weeks Sunday Funnies is a funny and rockin’ song by Jack Black and his band “Tenacious D”. This song is included on the new PSP game Rock Band Unplugged.

There isn’t a music video (that I know of) to this song so I’m posting up a video some kid did on YouTube. He’s using clips from the movie Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny which is a hilarious movie itself. Anyway, the video below is pretty funny and you can hear the song in all it’s glory. I thought it was pretty funny! (more…)
Weekend Set List For Your Live Band To Play – Dance 3

   This is our third dance set list for your live band to learn or to have on your portable music player to play during your band breaks. These songs are chosen from the Mobile Beat Top 200 Dance Songs Of All Time. They are proven in clubs and in front of live audiences to keep the crowd on their feet and dancing all night long!

   My band gets regular requests for the songs in this setlist. We don’t know them all but we do have them on the iPod and are able to play them during band breaks. Doing that satisfies a lot of the requests and the crowd likes to keep the party going while the band takes a break.

   I’m featuring downloads from Amazon.com MP3 service since they cost less than iTunes and they sound better. The MP3’s are DRM free and you can load them onto multiple MP3 players including iPods and iPhones. So get downloading and learn some new songs for your next gig!
Dealing With Unreliable Equipment
Leatherman New Wave Multi-Tool

One thing you’ll have to deal with all the time in your live band is equipment breakdowns. You’ll have to deal with everything from shorted out cables to outright electrical failures in your amplifiers, keyboards, microphones and mixers. You can deal with them with a little bit of preventative maintenance and a handy toolkit to take to your gigs.

Dealing with problems on the fly is something that you will have to do at gigs and at practice. That’s why you want to have some basic tools in your equipment bag. The following list is a good list of basic items you should have at every gig:
- Pocket Knife
- Philips and Flat blade screwdrivers
- Allen Wrenches
- Electrical Tape
- Duct Tape
- Flashlight
- Leatherman Multi-Tool with Pliers (more…)
Fender Samarium Cobalt Noiseless Pickups Video Demo

Fender Samarium Cobalt Noiseless Pickups

   The other day I wrote a review about the Fender Samarium Cobalt Noiseless pickups that I have in both of my Fender American Deluxe Stratocasters. I love the sound of these pickups and they’ve been a huge success onstage in my live band.

   They are a bit warmer sounding than the classic vintage single-coil pickups but the fact that they are noiseless puts them way ahead in terms of live functionality than standard single-coil pickups. When you’re dealing with varying power conditions at every venue that you play in, not having to worry about your noisy single-coil pickups gives great peace of mind.

   Today I’m posting up a couple of really good demo videos that feature the Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster loaded with the SCN pickups. These videos are both really great examples of how the Samarium Cobalt Noiseless pickups sounds. You can also hear the Samarium Cobalt Noiseless pickups in the clips on my Fender Cyber-Twin SE Preset Patch download page.      (more…)
Joe Morello Drum Solo Circa 1961

   This is for all you drummers out there playing and working in a live band. This is a video clip of Jazz drum legend Joe Morello from around 1961. Joe is famous for his control of accents and rebounds. He played for many years with the Dave Brubeck Quartet and he’s featured on over 60 albums recorded by Dave Brubeck.

   Joe Morello’s album count is very impressive as he’s played on over 120 albums. He’s also written many top selling books about drumming inluding his book “Master Studies”. He is also included in Modern Drummer Magazine’s Hall Of Fame.

   What I like about this clip is the way Joe is using his hands to play his drumset at the beginning of the solo. It really makes me wonder if John Bonham had seen Joe Morello play like this at some point. As I’m sure you’re aware, John Bonham has a nice section in his “Moby Dick” solo where he plays with his hands. I guess we all learn from our heroes.     (more…)
Fender Samarium Cobalt Noiseless Guitar Pickups Review

Samarium Cobalt Noiseless Pickups

My favorite electric guitar is the Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster. I use it onstage constantly with my live band. I have two American Deluxe Stratocasters. One is the 2004, 50th Anniversary American Deluxe Stratocaster and my other is a 2006 American Deluxe Ash Stratocaster. They’re both equipped stock with Fender Samarium Cobalt Noiseless Pickups. In fact, Samarium Cobalt Noiseless pickups are found on all 2004-2009 Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster guitars.

Fender Samarium Cobalt SCN Deluxe Noiseless Neck Pickup
$65.00
Fender Samarium Cobalt SCN Deluxe Noiseless Neck AND Bridge Pickups
$110.00
Fender American Deluxe Strat Loaded Pickguard S-1 & SCN Noiseless Pickups USA
$248.50
Fender SCN Samarium Cobalt Noiseless pickup
$126.00
Fender SCN Samarium Cobalt Noiseless Neck Pickup 2005
$75.00
Fender Samarium Cobalt SCN Deluxe Noiseless BRIDGE Pickup
$65.00

One thing that I’ve always hated about traditional single coil pickups is the irritating 50/60 cycle hum that plague them. Obviously if you use a high gain amplifier or use any kind of compression, the hum is amplified and sounds even worse. I play a lot of high-gain, compressed sounds. The hum that comes with a traditional single coil pickup is unacceptable for a lot of what I play. Simply for the noiseless design, I have been very happy with the Fender SCN Samarium Cobalt Noiseless pickups.
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Seize The Moment If You’ve Got A Large Crowd

Shufflin' Noah Rockin' The 90's

I’ve played to audiences of 1 person and I’ve played to audiences of 10,000 people over the course of my career in a live band. I’ve made some basic mistakes over the years and I’ve learned some good lessons from them. One mistake that I made early on in my career was not seizing the moment and giving an over-the-top show when I’ve played in front of very large audiences.

I consider a large crowd to be anything over 1000 people. I have played to audiences of 1000 or more quite a few times over the course of my career as a live musician. It’s such a great feeling to look out and see a big crowd but it can also be quite intimidating and I’ve blown it a couple times. (more…)