I saw this while perusing the Guitar Player Forum, Rampdog posted a link to this classic live performance of Wipe Out by The Ventures. I didn’t realize how hard these guys really rocked live! Talk about technically proficient on their instruments. I think my band’s going to start stretching out a bit more on this one. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
The Ventures – Wipe Out (Live)
As a musician have you ever heard the saying “Playing The Song Instead Of The Instrument”? I was having a discussion with some fellow musicians the other day and we were discussing the problem of musicians overplaying during a song. It’s something that I guarantee you’ll have to deal with at some point if you’re playing in a band.
Let’s define what overplaying is: Overplaying is when you play too much to suit the song. Let’s use the drums as an example. A blatant example of overplaying would be changing the beat deliberately to 5/4 without the rest of the band, just for a measure or two to show you can do it. Blatant overplaying would also be putting a drum break in every bit of extra space in a song. (more…)
Today Live Musician Central is opening our featured products store. In the store you will be able to find all the products we discuss at Live Musician Central. You will find all the products necessary for creating a great live show with your band.
There are products for guitar players, bass players, drummers, keyboard players and singers. You will also find a good selection of equipment for live sound such as P.A. systems and live sound accessories. There is also a section on stage lighting.
As we review and discuss more products on Live Musician Central they will be added to the store. The Live Musician Central store is powered by Amazon.com shopping cart and check out system and the products are offered from many different vendors. If you’re familiar with shopping on Amazon I’m sure you’ve had some trouble sorting through all the various offerings on the same product. For instance there are several store entries for Shure SM57 microphones. What we’ve done in the Live Musician Central store is sort through and select the best offerings from Amazon.com vendors so you won’t have to spend a lot of time searching for what you’re looking for.
You can access the Live Musician Central Store at any time by clicking on the tab at the top of the page called LMC Store. So if you want good prices, security and reliability then shop at the Live Musician Central Store.
We had a really good time at Club 90 this weekend. It was by far the best gig we’ve played at Club 90. Historically we’ve gotten booked on bad weekends when we play Club 90 and we’ve never really had a great crowd crowd. This weekend was looking like it would be another lame weekend because it was Labor Day Weekend but with gas prices keeping people close to home, we had a good crowd both nights.
This is a pretty good collage of music clips acted out with Star Wars action figures. The animation is bad but it’s got some good moments in it. Watching the Storm Troopers do YMCA was pretty classic! (more…)
Every weekend I pick several albums to post on Live Musician Central. The albums I put up are determined by a couple factors. I usually put up a couple that are being heavily promoted by the music industry. These may not be albums that I particularly like but they are albums that are going to be prominent in the public conscience. It’s good for us as musicians to stay current with what’s being promoted by the industry. We can gauge what we’re doing with what is being pushed out there. It’s also a good source to choose new music for your band to learn and play live or to have on the iPod to play during band breaks. The reasoning here is that you want to play music that people will know and since the albums I post on Live Musician Central are being so heavily promoted, your chances of people knowing the music at your shows is very high.
The rest of the albums that I post are either personal favorites or they are certified classic albums that have sold millions of copies and are familiar to a lot of people. I also like to post a few links to iTunes and a few links to Amazon’s music service. Amazon has DRM free MP3’s that are ripped at 256kbps which is excellent quality at a killer price. So make sure you check them out!
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Tonight my band “In Stereo” is playing at Club 90 in Salt Lake City. I’m really looking forward to playing while at the same time dreading all the work that comes with playing a show. I often ask myself why I keep playing music. There are so many things that are a pain in the butt about playing yet at the same time there is such a high that comes with pleasing a live audience.
Previously I wrote about how all the instruments in a band are equally important. Especially in the fact that everyone in the band is going for something greater than the individual parts. Another obvious fact of playing is that all musicians are not equally skilled on their instruments. I do believe that no matter how skilled you are on your instrument you need to remember to keep an eye on the ultimate goal of a band which is to create great music, not to simply play a great part. That being said, it would be foolish indeed not to feature your more skilled musicians with more prominent roles in the band.
The other day I was talking to some young musicians that were just forming their first band. One of them asked me which instrument was the most important instrument in the band. This is a question I’ve heard a lot over the course of my career and I’ve had a lot of discussions with other musicians about which instrument is the most important in the band. Is it the Lead Singer? Everyone focuses on the singer when the band is playing right? How about the drums, you couldn’t have a rock party without drums. Everyone loves the lead guitar, always getting high-fives after a good solo. What about the bass, no bottom end means no rumble in the chest and it’s a lame show without some good shaking going on. Without decent keyboards the music loses it’s harmonic texture.
I just went and watched the new movie “The Rocker” starring Rainn Wilson of “The Office” fame. A lot of people have been saying the movie is a “School Of Rock” ripoff and even though there are similarities, “The Rocker” has more adult laughs. So being a rocker myself and a fan of Rainn Wilson I was really excited to see the movie.