Tag: Live Music

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…)
Playing Cover Music Vs. Playing Original Music Part 3

Shufflin' Noah – Making Original Music Since The Mid 90's

This is the 3rd and final (for now) part of my take on playing cover music versus playing original music in a live band. I’ve written two previous posts on this topic titled Playing Cover Music Vs. Playing Original Music Part1 and Part 2. I’ve played in live bands for 27 years and I’ve played original music as well as cover music the entire time. I have a unique perspective about playing both types of gigs. Today I’m going to talk about the difference between playing in an Original Music band and a Cover Band.

The biggest differences between playing in a cover band vs. playing in an original band become glaringly apparent when it comes to gigs. I have to say that playing original music gigs can be either the highest of highs or the lowest of lows. Playing cover music gigs are much more consistent as long as your band plays the songs well. Let me explain what I mean. (more…)
Playing Cover Music Vs. Playing Original Music Part 2

George Thorogood Plays Original Music And Cover Music

The other day I wrote a post titled Playing Cover Music Vs. Playing Original Music Part 1 which covered the amount of creativity involved in playing cover music versus original music in a live band. Today I’m writing part two of that post to give you my view on another angle of the Cover Music Vs. Original Music debate. I’ve been seeing a lot of action in the online forums on this topic and I wanted to give you my view based on the fact the I play in both a cover band and an original band.

In my previous post I wrote about the amount of creativity involved in playing cover music vs. original music. I gave a slight edge to original music since it does take a bit more creativity to create a song from nothing. If you remember, I believe that playing cover music requires just about as much creativity as playing original music. Today I’m going to write about the skill level involved in playing Cover Music vs. Original Music. (more…)
Playing Cover Music Vs. Playing Original Music Part 1

Matt Levitates While Tapping The Creative Juices

I have been seeing a lot of action in the online forums on the topic of playing cover music (other people’s songs) versus playing your own original music. I feel I have a unique perspective on this because I actually play in two live bands. I play in both a cover band and an original band. I’ve played in both types of bands continuously over the course of my career as a live musician. Today I’m starting a series of articles that discuss the differences between playing cover music versus original music.

Today I’m going to address one of the misconceptions that I’m seeing in the online forums. The misconception that there is no creativity involved in playing cover music. To me, that’s just crazy talk! There is a ton of room for creativity when you play cover music in a live band. There are hundreds of ways to approach playing a cover song. From keeping only the lyrics and melody while re-writing every instrument part to playing the cover song note for note just like the recording. There is a massive amount of room for creativity with any approach to a cover song including a note-for-note rendition of the original. (more…)
Live Musicians In New York City

The Ebony Hillbillies at NYC Subway

I took a 3-day trip to New York City last week just to hang out, take in the sights and get a feel for how live musicians worked in the Big Apple. It was a great trip and I had a lot of fun seeing the usual tourist attractions like the Statue Of Liberty, Empire State Building and, of course, the Hard Rock Cafe. I also took in a couple of Broadway shows seeing “Wicked” as well as “Phantom Of The Opera”, both were truly excellent. As I made my way around the city I took particular notice of all the live musicians everywhere I went. There really seem to be a lot of places to play music in New York City so today I’m going to talk about a couple.

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Is Music Is Better Played Live Than Recorded?

Frampton Comes Alive

It’s no secret that as a musician I just plain love music. I learned to love music from my father who used to sing with me when I was a little boy. We used to take road trips and sing a whole bunch of old classics. Then as I got older I sang in choir in grade school, then learned trumpet, piano, guitar and a bunch of other instruments. So my love of live performance began at an early age and has developed over the course of my life.

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Judy Carmichael Jazz Pianist – Sundance Under The Stars Concert Review

Judy Carmichael

On Saturday night I was invited to attend the Sundance Under The Stars summer music concert series. It’s in a small amphitheater setting just off the ski run at Sundance Ski Resort in Utah. This summer Sundance is featuring a handful of jazz artists playing in the absolutely stunning outdoor setting.

It was my pleasure to listen to Judy Charmichael with a trio of jazz artists. Judy Charmichael is a master of jazz Stride Piano. The musicians who were playing in the jazz quartet were (more…)
Broadcast A Live Online Concert

Frank – Ready To Rock

With gas prices taking a huge chunk of change out of all of our pockets, bands are looking for ways to stay in touch with their audience. Today I’m going to talk a bit about streaming a live concert online for all your fans to enjoy.

The easiest way that I’ve found to do this is with a great Internet streaming service called Shoutcast. It’s a music stream that you can listen to with either Winamp or iTunes. You can check it out at www.shoutcast.com and it’s very easy to set up. Here are 2 links on how to set everything up: (more…)