I get asked all the time for guitar amplifier recommendations from guitarists that want to have a good amp to use in their live band. The amp I use and love is the Fender Cyber-Twin SE and I highly recommend that guitar amplifier. The Cyber-Twin SE is a professional quality amp which is also fairly expensive but I believe it’s worth every penny. That being said, many guitarists who are just starting out in their first live band are looking for quality guitar amplification and they don’t have a lot of cash to spend on an amplifier. That’s why today I’m going to talk about the extremely affordable Fender Frontman 212R guitar amplifier. (more…)
There are very few live guitarists that can compete with Eddie Van Halen. He is truly a master of the electric guitar. This video is from a live DVD made around 1983 and features Eddie doing his live solo at one of the high points of his career. It’s just plain fun to watch him go crazy on his Frankenstein Strat. Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Eddie Van Halen!! (more…)
Playing in a live band can be very challenging rhythmically because the thing that really makes a live band sound great is keeping the rhythm and groove happening. It’s so important to practice to some sort of rhythm when you work on your instrument whether it be keyboards, guitar, bass or drums. I’ve written about practicing to a beat and not a metronome and I still feel that practicing to a beat is the best way to get good at playing rhythmically. Practicing to different types of beats will teach you to play in a musical groove. With that being said, there are times when you want to practice with a plain old metronome.
A couple weeks ago my live band , In Stereo, was faced with a situation that you hope you never have to deal with. We had an important gig scheduled and one day before the gig our drummer, Ted, came down with a life threatening staff infection in his ankle. It was very obvious as soon as he was admitted into the hospital that there was no way he would be able to play the gig. That left us with a commitment to fulfill with the club that had us booked and as you know, the show must go on. So what are your options in a live band when one of your core members goes down? (more…)
This week on Live Musician Central Sunday Funnies I found this clip from the Guitar Center Sessions. Guitar Center brings in world class guitarists and they get them up there with an interviewer, or sidekick and have them put on a demo of their particular instrument showing off their guitar technique. This clip features John Petrucci, the guitarist from Dream Theater who is truly a master of the instrument. He is demo’ing his custom Music Man guitar made by the Ernie Ball company. Up there on stage with him is Sterling Ball, who is the president and CEO of Ernie Ball. Now, Sterling is not a bad guitar player but I don’t think he realizes the caliber of guitarist that John Petrucci is. Most guitarists wouldn’t dare get up there and try to trade licks with John Petrucci. So it’s hilarious to watch Sterling Ball trying to do and say things that are relevant to what John is doing. I think it’s funny because it really comes off as a big sales pitch to buy Music Man guitars. I got some good laughs at Sterling’s expense. In all fairness, Sterling Ball runs a fantastic company with excellent products, but he may want to think twice about trading guitar licks with John Petrucci.
Live Musician Central presents this weeks most heavily marketed new album releases. Every week we pick new releases based solely on the amount of music industry marketing hype they generate. Because these may not necessarily be the best albums out there, we do throw in a couple of certified classics for you to download and add to your personal music collection. We pick these albums so you can build your band’s setlist and break music selection. Like it or not, people in the clubs are going to know these songs because they’re going to be pushed hard on the Internet, Radio and in the clubs.
It’s a great way to start out your weekend, by downloading some brand new MP3’s from Amazon.com or if you prefer to pay more, from iTunes. Which brings us to the fact that iTunes is raising prices for their MP3 downloads. We’re fighting the iTunes price increase by offering high quality MP3 downloads from Amazon.com MP3 service. The Amazon.com MP3’s are encoded at 256kbps and they sound top notch! Plus, you can save a lot of money by downloading from Amazon.com. So start downloading some music just for you!
Today on Live Musician Central I’m posting another one of my custom programmed sound preset patches for the Fender Cyber-Twin SE guitar amplifier. This one is called “LMC Stack Hot” and it is a more powerful version of my “LMC Stack Chorus” preset that I posted last week. I actually use “LMC Stack Chorus” and “LMC Stack Hot” together on a lot of songs. The basic sound is that of a classic Marshall amplifier which I wanted to thicken up with stereo chorus and create the illusion of having a 2nd guitar. On “LMC Stack Hot” I used the same basic tone as “LMC Stack Chorus” but I switched to Sine Chorus insted of Triangle Chorus for a smoother, more focused chorus sound. I also switched to HMB Tube 2 drive circuitry, added compressor and cranked the gain up a bit to increase the sustain. I use “LMC Stack Hot” as a boost for solo’s or to add more sustain in songs that I’m using “LMC Stack Chorus” as the main sound. I switch between both sounds in the same song a lot of the time but they do get used on their own in different songs as well. (more…)
What can I say about these 3 groundbreaking, mind blowing live guitarists? This video clip is from the 2005 G3 Tour featuring Steve Vai, Joe Satriani and John Petrucci. As an added bonus you have Billy Sheehan on bass although he’s totally holding down the bottom end and keeping the song together on this one. I guess all I can say is sit back and enjoy as these three electric guitar masters trade unbelievable solo’s on the Deep Purple classic “Smoke On The Water”.
As a live musician, one of the most essential tools of our trade is having a good collection of current and “greatest of all time” music. With the advent of the Internet, downloading great music has become as easy as picking a song and clicking on the download button. What’s really great for musicians playing in live bands is the ease of getting everyone in your band to download the same song. It makes things a lot easier when your band is learning songs to be able to send out a download link for the songs you’re learning. As you know, iTunes is currently the largest retailer of music in the United States. CD sales continue to slide as sales of music in downloadable digital form continue to increase.
I get a lot of traffic on Live Musician Central for both the Fender Cyber-Twin SE Amplifier and the Fender Stratocaster. I talk about both those pieces of Fender equipment a lot because that’s what I use myself. The Cyber-Twin SE and my Fender American Deluxe Ash Stratocaster comprise the core of my current live guitar rig. I also have a home studio where I record my own original music as well as my bands Shufflin’ Noah and In Stereo’s original music. Needless to say, my Cyber-Twin SE and Stratocasters are on a lot of my recordings. I also get a lot of traffic on my Fender Cyber-Twin SE custom patch-preset download page from Cyber-Twin SE users looking for quality sound patches for their amplifiers. I have short sound clips of my custom Cyber-Twin SE sound patches on the download page but I haven’t posted up a lot of complete songs that highlight the way these preset patches sound within the confines of a band. Today I’m going to point you to an album I recorded with my band Shufflin’ Noah that features the Fender Cyber-Twin SE amplifer and my ’98 Fender Jeff Beck Signature Stratocaster using my custom programmed preset patches exclusively for every guitar sound on the album.
The album by Shufflin’ Noah is called “Fudgie The Dog” and it’s a concept album detailing the life and misadventures of a German Shorthair dog named Fudgie. The entire album came out of a 2-hour jam session where we simply recorded everything we played. The only discussion or planning that went into creating the album were short 5 to 10 minute discussions about what Fudgie would do next. Then we’d create the next song complete with music, melody and lyrics right there on the spot. Sometimes the playing is loose and sometimes the songs are just okay, but there are times when we catch that special musical magic that comes from four musicians being completely in synch with one another. If you haven’t downloaded the album yet, you can go to the main download page to download it. Just follow this link ->Fudgie The Dog Download Page.
Once you have a copy of the album you can hear for yourself how great the Fender Cyber-Twin SE and Jeff Beck Stratocaster sound on the recording without any overdubs or added studio effects. Below is a track-by-track breakdown of the custom preset sound patches that I programmed for the Cyber-Twin SE and used on each track. The preset patch is noted in italics for each track. If I have already posted the sound on Live Musician Central, you can click the name to go to that sound patches download page. You can hear sound clips of every track by checking out the Shufflin’ Noah Releases “Fudgie The Dog” On Live Musician Central page.
“Shufflin’ Noah – Fudgie The Dog” – Cyber-Twin SE Track-by-Track Sound Patch Breakdown
Track 1 – Fudgie The Dog (Intro) I used the “LMC Twang” patch which has not been posted.
And there you have it, a listing of all the sound preset patches used on the Fudgie The Dog album. I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as we enjoyed creating the album. -Matt-
