If you don’t know Joe Bonamassa, he’s a blues guitarist. But not just any blues guitarist. The dude can play. At 12 years old, he opened for B. B. King. He’s swapped licks on stage with Eric Clapton, and been nominated for a Grammy. He’s had multiple albums go to #1 on the blues charts. He gigs relentlessly and […]
Recently a group of musicians I know was discussing the cover charges at local clubs. Some clubs are charging a $5 cover, and that’s just not enough to support 3 bands on the bill. The gist of the conversation was that clubs should charge more, and pay the bands more. “The clubs have all the power”, was […]
Maybe it’s toilet paper, maybe gasoline. Maybe for you, it’s dentists, hard drives, patch cables, or toothpaste. We all have things that we think of as commodities. We don’t care much about the brand, or any special features — we just need it. And we’ll get it from wherever is cheapest, or most convenient. It’s generic and replaceable. We’d just […]
If you’re a musician who has a web presence, you’re going to depend on services. You probably shouldn’t run your website off a computer sitting in your basement. Let people that know how to host websites do that for you. You’re not going to code your website from the ground up, you’ll use WordPress, or one […]
In an episode of the TV show, Frasier, Niles Crane talks about a paper he wrote about a narcisisstic opera singer. The title of the paper was “Mi, Mi, Mi, Mi, Mi” (That’s pronounced ‘Me, Me, Me, Me, Me’). Get it? It brings to mind the question of why vocal teachers have students doing such […]
Here are some videos covering the basics of how singer/songwriters can set up a home studio. There’s a home recording gear overview, help in deciding what microphone to buy, and tutorials that explain audio interfaces, and recording software. There’s a PDF that goes into more detail, you can grab it here. Home Recording Basics Overview […]
At the Republican national convention, Donald Trump entered with Queen’s “We Are The Champions” playing. Brian May called this an “unauthorized use” and said that Trump had not asked permission to use the song. Can Brian May or Queen (or whoever owns the publishing) legally stop Trump from using their music? Is there legal recourse? […]
For years, I practiced ineffectively; and because of it, I didn’t get much better at my instrument, or at singing. Why? I didn’t understand how to practice. And to understand how to practice, in order to improve quickly, it’s good to understand both the psychology of practice, and how the mind best absorbs information. I used […]