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The Good Singers Vs. Bad Singers Debate

Bob Dylan – Good Singer or Bad Singer?

Today I’m going to address a topic that is a personal pet peeve of mine. I personally don’t like labeling artists as either “Good” or “Bad”. That goes for anybody that creates a work of art including painters, writers, musicians or any other person that creates something from nothing. Art is subjective and what’s beautiful to one person, may seem ugly to another. But, my real pet peeve is the labeling of something as unique as an individual human voice as either “Good” or “Bad”. The sad thing is that I hear comments from the crowd about good vs. bad singing every time I watch a live band play. (more…)
Fender Drops Prices On Musician’s Friend


   Musician’s Friend has lowered prices on lots of Fender gear and that’s a good thing, I think. What I mean is, I was looking into these supposed “price drops” and sure enough Fender has dropped prices on certain parts of their gear lineup. I don’t have good list of Pre-Price Hike prices but I do know that the Highway One Strat was $750 pre-price hike and is now $699. So that is indeed a real price drop, but what about everything else you may need in your live band?

    It looks like the bulk of the price drops have happened on the Made-In-Mexico equipment such as the Standard line. But the top-of-the-line premium guitars such as my beloved Fender American Deluxe Stratocaster is still 30% more expensive than last year with no price drop in sight. The top amplifiers are still just as expensive as well so there’s no real savings on Fender’s premium equipment which is what I recommend when buying equipment to use when you play live.     (more…)
John Bonham – Moby Dick Drum Solo 1973 Live Video

One of the main reasons Led Zeppelin was such a huge live band was because of the incredible drumming of John Bonham. His drumming style was huge and bombastic which really added to the entire feel of the Led Zeppelin experience. He also had a great feel for playing the proper drum fill in the perfect place in any song. (more…)
Pigtronix Philosopher’s Tone Guitar Compressor/Sustainer Review

Pigtronix Philosopher's Tone Pedal

Last week I picked up the new effect pedal from Pigtronix called the Philosopher’s Tone. It’s an analog compressor/sustainer that gives you the ability to sustain your held notes for a very, very long time. I had the opportunity to use it in my live band at a gig this past weekend and figured I’d let you all know how the Philosopher’s Tone performed.

I picked up my Pigtronix Philosopher’s Tone from a webstore called GuitarX. I worked with Gary and the customer service was excellent. E-mails were responded to very quickly, shipping was super fast and the pedal arrived in perfect condition. It was a very good buying experience. (more…)
Weekend Gig Report – In Stereo at Canyon Inn, May 29-30, 2009

In Stereo Bass Drum Logo

My live band “In Stereo” played two nights at the Canyon Inn in Salt Lake City, Utah this past weekend. It was a very mixed bag as the two nights went down in very different ways. On Friday we had some definite problems but we recouped and Saturday we were back on top of our game.

Our drummer, Ted Townsend is still recovering from a severe ankle infection that has left him unable to play drums. He is getting better but the date of his return to the drumset with In Stereo is still unknown. Luckily, the very talented Frank Lee was able to fill in for Ted this weekend. Frank also plays drum in my original band, Shufflin’ Noah and Frank was a founding member of In Stereo before he went back to school to get his Masters degree. (more…)
Sunday Funnies – Kids Cartoon Candy Cigarettes

Everybody knows that any smoking at all is not good for your body. So it was a pretty major marketing blunder when someone got the bright idea to put famous cartoon characters on candy cigarettes. Having kids associate Spider-Man with smoking is maybe not the best thing for good ol’ Spidey’s image. Okay, they’re calling them “candy sticks” but we all know they’re just re-packaged candy cigarettes. (more…)
Weekend Set List For Your Live Band To Play 5-30-09 – Metal

Every weekend I will be featuring a new downloadable live band set list for you to check out and get right here on Live Musician Central. This feature is called “Weekend Set List” and it features proven set lists that keep the audience on their feet in live music clubs. The songs on the set list are time tested and proven to work in the clubs. (more…)
How To Find And Work With A Booking Agent For Your Live Band

Famous Booking Agents – Creative Artists Agency

One of the greatest challenges for any live band is finding and booking regular paying gigs. It can take more time to get out and book your own gigs than it takes to practice and get your band in shape to play gigs. That’s why live bands secure the services of booking agents to help find and schedule gigs. (more…)
The Cheapest Way To Get Into A Pro Tools Recording Setup

Digidesign Mbox-2 Mini Recording Bundle

Not only do I play professionally in a live band but I’ve also been a home recording enthusiast for many years. My first piece of recording equipment was my good old Tascam Portastudio 4-track which came with microphone, mic cord and a box of good cassettes. I made a lot of great recordings on that old Tascam and eventually wore the recording heads out. After the Tascam died I moved to a Fostex hard disk based recording setup that I built up to create a 24-track studio. But to get in line with the rest of the recording industry I had to build a Digidesign Pro Tools based recording studio.

I now have a Digi 003 rack system running Pro Tools LE in my home studio. It has been a great system to work with and I’ve become really good with computer based audio editing. It would be really difficult to go back to editing tracks without the ease of being able to edit audio on the computer. Pro Tools is a very powerful program that is fairly easy to learn but can be a challenge to master. If you’re going to get into home recording, I recommend starting with an entry level Pro Tools LE system. (more…)
Jeff Beck & Tal Wilkenfeld – Cause We’ve Ended As Lovers Live Video

Jeff Beck is my very favorite guitar player of all time. I love his playing style and the amazing sounds he gets out of his Fender Stratocaster. He has recently been playing with an excellent live band that features the very talented Tal Wilkenfeld on bass guitar. Tal is 23 years old and has already played bass with Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page.

In this video clip from the 2007 Crossroads Festival Jeff is performing his beautiful song “Cause We’ve Ended As Lovers” in which Tal takes and extended bass solo. You can see that she really knows how to play and is continuing to get better on the bass guitar. I hope you enjoy this clip as much as I did. (more…)