Tag: Vocals

Having A Vocal Only Rehearsal With Your Band

If you want your band to sound it’s best, have a dedicated Vocals only band practice.

The Eagles Singing Harmony
The Eagles Sing Harmony Live

   One of the most neglected aspects I’ve seen with live bands over the years is the backing vocals. I’ve seen plenty of bands that have an excellent lead singer or even multiple lead singers that nail the lead vocals every time. But they are severely lacking in the backing vocals. Too many bands just don’t take the time to learn and then fix problems with their backing vocals.

   I’ve written many times on Live Musician Central that the ability to sing is crucial to your skills as a band musician. It’s up to you as an individual player to take ownership of singing backup vocals in your band. Along with your regular, personal practice on your instrument you need to take the time to practice your backing vocals. I often practice my singing while I’m driving as it’s something I can do without my hands. Make sure you take the time to learn your individual backing vocal part before you have a band rehearsal.   Continue reading “Having A Vocal Only Rehearsal With Your Band”

Expand Your Vocal Chops By Cross-Training Your Voice

Cross-Train your voice by donating your time to your local choir. It will help you increase your skills as a singer and a musician.

Improve Your Lead Vocals With Cross-Training
Improve Your Lead Vocals With Cross-Training

   Singing is one of the most basic and essential skills in any live band. If you play an instrument, having the ability to sing will give you the multiple skills to make you a more valuable member of the band. It’s really in your own best interest to develop your singing skills as much as possible

   As you know, singing is controlled by the muscles in your throat and the muscles that control your breathing. Any athlete knows that training the correct muscles will give you stamina and greater power. This is also true with your voice. As you train these muscles you’ll be able to sing better, longer and with more vocal range.

   Another truth that any athlete knows is that cross-training muscles is an excellent way to increase those muscles abilities. The same is true with singing. If you are a lead singer and all you ever do is sing in the upper ranges of your voice you’ve probably noticed that you struggle singing parts that are in the lower ranges of your voice. The same is true if you only sing in the low range of your voice. You’ll struggle when you go to hit those high notes. That’s where the concept of cross-training your voice comes in.     Continue reading “Expand Your Vocal Chops By Cross-Training Your Voice”

The Good Singers Vs. Bad Singers Debate

Trying to label something as unique as the human voice as either “Bad” or “Good” is a very difficult thing to do.

Bob Dylan - Good Singer or Bad Singer?
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.    Continue reading “The Good Singers Vs. Bad Singers Debate”

Rock Band 2 Special Edition For Playstation 3 Review

Rock Band 2

 Rock Band 2 Special Edition was released for PlayStation 3 on Oct. 19th. Naturally, I picked it up that day and have been playing it since. Even though there aren’t any groundbreaking updates there are several very fun updates in Rock Band 2. Today I am going to turn Live Musician Central over to our new contributor, Skyler Rushton for a review of Rock Band 2. -Matt-

  The new Rock Band 2 Special Edition consists of a drum set, a microphone, and one rock band guitar. Continue reading “Rock Band 2 Special Edition For Playstation 3 Review”

Save Money On Accessories With Coupon Code From Music123

Save 15% On Hearos Ear Plugs

   There’s a couple of really good deals going on at Music123 that I wanted to make you aware of. Right now all the accessories ship free on orders over $49. That’s half the usual amount to get free shipping. You usually have to order $99 to get free shipping but for the accessories you only have to order $49 worth of stuff to get free shipping.

   Second, there’s a great coupon code that you can use to get a 15% discount on all accessories. You can save a bunch of money by entering this coupon code during checkout when ordering accessories. Just click this link: 15% Off All Accessories with Coupon Code: B2S15 at Music123.com That’s a great deal and it’s not going to last forever. So if you’re a live musician, now is the perfect time to pick up some much needed accessories for you and your band.

   Here’s a list of links to accessories that you can buy using the 15% discount code.

Horizon Concert Series 24-Channel/4-Return Stage Snake Standard

Mogami Gold High-Definition Neutrik 1/4″ Straight Instrument Cable 18 Foot

Mogami Silver Series Microphone Cable 50 Foot

Nova 12-Pair Hickory Drumsticks Wood Rock

Roc-N-Soc NRX Nitro Rider Drum Throne Black

Furman PM-8 II Power Conditioner with Digital Volt And Current Meters Standard

Yamaha Portable Keyboard Survival Kit B Standard

Drum One Shield Two Drum Shield Standard

Fingerease Guitar String Lubricant Standard

Fender Instrument Care Kit by Meguiar’s Standard

Big Bends Nut Sauce Tuning Lubricant Standard

Seymour Duncan SH-4 JB Humbucker Pickup Black

EBow PlusEbow Electronic Bow for Guitar Standard

Clayton Acetal Standard Guitar Picks .80MM 1 Dozen

Dean Markley 2556 Blue Steel Regular Gauge Electric Guitar Strings Standard

M-Audio SP-2 Sustain Pedal Standard

   That’s just a small sampling of the types of accessories that you can get right now at Music123. With the combined discounts of 15% off the price of the accessory and free shipping on orders over $49.00 you can save a bundle. So make sure you get in on the sale while you still can!

15% Off All Accessories with Coupon Code: B2S15

Learn Songs The Easy Way, Tascam MP-GT1

Tascam MP-GT1 Portable MP3 Guitar Trainer

   When I was first learning how to play songs by ear from the original recordings it was a huge struggle for me. I was trained to read music from a young age and playing by ear was a whole new world for me. I remember sitting on my bed and working on a song for several hours before I finally had it down. The hardest thing of all was learining how to play the guitar solos. The notes flew by so fast that I couldn’t begin to pick them out.

Continue reading “Learn Songs The Easy Way, Tascam MP-GT1”

The Best Vocal Mic (for the money) Shure Beta 58A

The Shure Beta 58A is the perfect combination of quality, value and performance in a vocal microphone.

    I’m the lead guitarist in my band. I also sing. I sing lead on a lot of the songs and I sing backup on most of the rest. It doesn’t matter what instrument you play, being able to sing is going to increase your value exponentially.    Continue reading “The Best Vocal Mic (for the money) Shure Beta 58A”

Fun and Easy Practice

   As musicians, we’ve all heard the same word repeated over and over our entire carreer…Practice! I’ll tell you one thing I’ve learned, if you love to practice you’re probably not playing out very much. I personally don’t love to practice. I love it when I have a brand new instrument or when I’m learning a new instrument but that newness wears off quickly. Don’t get me wrong, I practice regularly and so should you. But don’t you like to practice when you’re having a lot of fun at the same time?      Continue reading “Fun and Easy Practice”

Welcome to Live Musician Central

  This Blog is dedicated to all the real world musicians out there who have made the leap from the garage to the stage. If you’re ready to play your first gig in front of an audience or if you’ve played hundreds of gigs in front of all kinds of audiences then this Blog is the home for you. Bookmark it now! I’ll be discussing the ins and outs of playing in front of an audience. I’ll discuss equipment, song selection, marketing, band chemistry and crazy stuff that happens at a gig and how to deal with it.

  If you have any comments or suggestions, feel free to post.