I’ve been playing music on stage since I was 9 years old.  I’ve tried it all when it comes to vocal show prep.  Throat coats, vocal exercises, honey, cough syrups, and gum were always a way to get through shows when I was playing 3 or 4 nights a week. It took me “blowing my voice up” at 22 years old and never having it come back clear to learn from an E.N.T. Dr. on how to sing without hurting myself.

Water No Ice.. I don’t know how many bartenders have heard those words come out of my mouth then shake their heads in disbelief at me.  Start drinking room temperature water several hours before the show and continue to drink it until your set is over.  Stay away from anything with caffeine in it.  Caffeine stirs up stomach acid and can cause a burning in your throat.  Sad but true for a musician but alcoholic drinks will dry your throat and mouth out. Smoking should be avoided, but I’m weak!

Food? I rarely eat before a show.  I usually have a light lunch and the water I’m drinking gives me a full feeling.  My Dr. warned me about stomach acid #1 but also mentioned how a full stomach affects the diaphragm and can cause you to use more throat than gut when singing.

Warm it up! Jumping on stage and starting to sing without warming your voice up is like jumping in your car and taking off on a cold morning without giving it a chance to get its fluids warmed up.  It’s going to run like shit.  People have laughed at me for years for walking around backstage and doing the “motor boat”.  It works! It relaxes your throat muscles and helps you to breathe correctly while singing. My all time favorite I heard backstage was doing an impression of a stadium announcer.  Michael Buffer might be a bit too much, but imagine you’re announcing the name of your favorite stadium. “Welcome to …” I’ve never done vocal scales because let’s face it they are kind of embarrassing sounding at a bar or coffee house.  If you must do your “do-ray-mi’s” go low to high and back down changing the key you’re in to loosen up the vocal cords.

Don’t forget to breathe! I know you’re thinking its involuntary right? In through the nose; out through the mouth concentrating on your diaphragm.  Your diaphragm is where all of your power comes from.  Breathing properly will also help you to relax.

RELAX!!! I tend to hang out alone for a few minutes before I go on stage.  I focus on my breathing, drink some water, give my voice a chance to relax after warm up, and visualize what I’m about to go do.

I have been pretty much trouble free with my voice for the last 10 years (knock on wood) since I learned how to take care of it.   Trust me a HUGE vocal squeaker is not only embarrassing on stage (check out “want to be the one (live)”  on my website) but it also can do major damage and take you out for a while.  When I blew my throat up I wasn’t able to play a show for 2 weeks, and lived my life like a mute.

XO

SP

www.skinnypaul.com

http://www.reverbnation.com/skinnypaulsp

http://www.twitter.com/sprocks55

No matter how we, as human beings, live our lives…drama happens. And the average musician has more drama than the crazy cat lady down the block has bags of used litter on her porch. At every turn, your average wannabe rockstar has a crazy squeeze, a crazier ex, a harem of would-be lovers, and a gaggle of insane stalkers. Then there’s the band drama, manager drama, club drama, fan drama, gear drama, and let’s not even get started on the online drama potential. Before you know it, your band makes “Desperate Housewives” look like 60 Minutes.

Certainly, no one ever said that music was going to be a safe, secure and solid profession to get into. Any industry that pays buckets of money to young, pretty people for jumping around and showing off is bound to inspire zaniness to some degree or another. And the creative process often brings with it a certain amount of tortured genius that fuels the seeds of drama like miracle grow on weeds. Plus, there are more than twenty million musicians around the world that are clamoring for maybe a thousand record deals like contestants on “Survivor” running obstacles courses for a single meager chicken wing. If there was a country built on drama, a musician would be its queen.

However, as much as the music biz is filled with glitz and glamour and the stuff that tabloid headlines are made of, it is also a business. And if there’s one thing you don’t want in the middle of your business, it’s drama. There’s a reason why doctors don’t fight over dying patients about their golf scores, pilots don’t announce to a plane full of passengers that they’ve been dating the stewardess, and the chef doesn’t come to tell you he forgot to wash his hands before he cooked your four-star meal…drama does not belong in business. Whether you’re aspiring to get a record deal or searching for a cure for cancer, leave your drama at home!

The following are a few tips that will help you to navigate the gossip and erratic turbulence of life in the music industry without becoming a slave to your own drama:
Don’t Let The Internet Suck You In—Every since the invention of the internet, there’s been more drama in cyberspace than at a convention for bipolar drag queens. It’s easy to gossip and backbite while you can stay anonymous, so the internet has becoming a breeding ground for anyone and everyone with an agenda, an out-of-control jealousy problem, an axe to grind, or an unbelievable ego. Angry, upset, small-minded people with inferiority complexes like size of Shamu will use the internet to poke at your band with a cyber stick. As hard as it may be, you need to learn to let it all roll off your back. As long as they’re posting about you, it means they’re listening. Removing their inflammatory posts, or replying with similar negativity, feeds the drama until your entire message board is about the trouble-maker on your web site and not your music. What if a potential magazine reviewer or an interested label rep is perusing your page with interest only to find more info about your fight with some internet psycho than about your band? It’s not worth risking a loss of opportunity to engage in drama.

Drama Doesn’t Belong At Your Gigs—When you’re at a show, your goal is to make music, engage the audience, sell CDs, and win the club over so that you can play there again and again. People make room in their schedules, pay for gas, and fork out cash for a cover charge and bar priced drinks, just to hear you play your songs for them. They want to be entertained; to get away from the pressures of their real lives and escape into the safety and excitement of your music and lyrics. What they don’t need is more drama at your gigs then they get from their office co-workers, their wacky neighbors, and bully at their kids’ school combined. Whatever problems you’re having in your personal and professional life, keep it away from your fans and your industry contacts or they’ll start to remember your shows more for the drama than for the music.

Your Manager Is Not Your Therapist—Although a manager’s professional duties make them almost like the band’s parent, don’t cry to mommy every time the drummer calls you a name or your girlfriend decides she wants to play the field. There is too much music industry drama that your manager has to deal with every day, to add to his/her troubles by piling a heap of your personal woes on top of his/her already overburdened shoulders. If a club owner stiffs you at the door, tell your manager. If another band records one of your songs without permission, tell your manager. If your wife compulsively flashes her breasts at your shows, send her to a therapist, but leave your manager out of it.

Take The Crazymakers Off Your Mailing List—A lot of damage control can be done simply by eliminating from your mailings the nuts that show up and bring their own boatload of drama. If you know that your ex has never gotten over you, that she’s off her meds and that she likes to show up and start swinging at every girl she thinks is catching your eye…why would you invite he to your shows? Comb your address book with a big, black sharpie pen and ink out the stalkers, crazies, attention-getters, and overblown drunkards that will turn each and every one of your gigs into a three-ring circus of drama that you’re forced to ringmaster from the stage during your set.

Once you remove the drama from your musical career, you’ll find that your gigs go smoother, your website is a more positive place for fans to hang in cyber space, and the industry is less wary about getting behind what you’re doing. It may seem silly, but too much drama can often be a warning sign that something is really wrong with a band and you may find that industry types will become gun shy around your band if they’re worried that your reputation as drama queen will be more trouble than it’s worth. Working in the music business is hard enough. Don’t give anybody any reason not to work with you. Be smart. Leave your drama at home and show the industry that your music is what’s most important to you and your band.

Sheena Metal is a radio host, producer, promoter, music supervisor, consultant, columnist, journalist and musician. Her syndicated radio program, Music Highway Radio, airs on over 2,400 affiliates to more than 126 million listeners. Her musicians’ assistance program, Music Highway, boasts over 10,000 members. She currently promotes numerous live shows weekly in the Los Angeles Area, where she resides. For more info: http://www.sheena-metal.com.

http://www.sheenametal.com/radio.htm

When asked to do anything in the realm of music I am always flattered.  Whether it be a performance, a song for a no budget film, or an article of advice for musicians. Here it is:

Play, write, record music because you love it. Any other motive is bullshit.  I want to be a star, I don’t want to work, I want to be rich….etc. Although it does happen for some, it does not happen for most.  Music first and foremost is something you feel, something you hear, and something you express.  Make it mean something to YOU first.  Honesty and truth when done well always gets through to the listener.

Two weeks ago I performed at a Borders bookstore for 11 people.  I’ve also toured with Godsmack and played for 20,000 people.  I have a record that has sold 500,000 copies and a record that has sold 100 copies.  I have a song in the film “Varsity Blues” and a song in the film “Deep Winter”.  To me it’s all the same. Love is love.  I write, record, and perform music why????  Because I love it. Success to me isn’t in numbers, it’s when I listen to a song I wrote ten years ago—and it’s still a good song.

Bring duct tape on the road.  Drugs are a waste of time.  Be kind to people.

Sincerely,

Robert Rolfe Feddersen

1.       One book you would recommend.

Indie Bible 2010

2.       Your favorite piece of gear.

My left-handed Jimi Hendrix model Fender Strat.

3.       One thing you can’t live on the road without.

Duct tape

New album, “Milkman” is available at iTunes!

http://www.myspace.com/robertrolfefeddersen

Tuesday, 8 June 2010, 1 Comments

Today, we once again open the floor to Chicago-based (and now Colorado located) national touring musician, Dave Tamkin. We spoke with Dave about the promotional strategies that he finds to be most effective on his own blog, Head Above Music. Dave created Head Above Music as a free resource for musicians to find tips about gear, touring, travel, health and other important interests related to the working musician:

Describe yourself as an artist.

I’ve been a full time national touring musician for the last 8 years, maybe more but I don’t want to admit it. I try to write honest, upbeat, percussive songs that tell stories from a few different perspectives.

How important is social media marketing to your overall goals as an artist. Do you use it often? What is the level of engagement between you and your fans through various social networking channels?

It’s important to stay in contact with your friends and fans at a few different levels. It’s a creative outlet like anything else and the more you can give your audience new material to keep them updated and entertained the better. I use Facebook daily. I have a good time posting crazy ass videos and try to find something either personal or external that provokes some comments. Its fun to see people I’ve met from across the country interact on a topic.

I’m not a huge twitter fan but keep it updated through other platforms. Myspace is still great to tool to connect with other musicians but I’m not sure how many people still use it.

As an artist, how does blogging fit into the overall structure of your marketing strategy?

I blog, but not as an artist. I blog to bring other musicians together and try to keep my comments out of it, although there is a few on www.headabovemusic.com . So I guess I’m an aggregator of other musician’s blogs.

As a blogger, what inspires you?

I like to tear down the hype that comes with being on stage, in photos, in videos, as a performer and a songwriter. Behind all the ego are musicians that are passionate about their voice and how it is interpreted by the audience and the vehicles in which it reaches their ears. Men and women that have the same struggles as everyone else and yet provide such eclectic music along their journeys are intriguing to me. People that want to succeed at what they do and will go to great lengths to make that happen. Everyone has their own way of achieving those goals. The fact that I provide a forum in which they can come together and share their stories and network is what inspires me to keep posting blogs.

A typical questions that most musicians are looking for the answer to, where did you begin? What was the first step you took in promoting your blog?

I began with a subject that didn’t sell anything. It was purely to provide information to others to help on their journey. I wanted an outlet that didn’t depend on me paying my bills or having to be judged in any way. There is not one bad thing about people sharing their stories on how they survive in the music world. I found that extremely easy to stand behind and promote. I first asked musician friends to offer their opinions on how they go through their day as a musician. I came up with as many topics as I could. They could either choose one of those or come up with one on their own. No rules, no topic turned down. It just had to have meat and honesty behind it.

Once I had a good foundation built, I went searching for people that needed help. I explored other blogs and forums where people looked for answers relating to topics I had in my foundation. I simply offered my help and the URL link and continued searching.

I also asked musicians to post the article on their own site and promote as well. This brought their fans to the page as well as inspiring musicians of whom were also a fan of that musician.

I then hooked up my feedburner (not the best option) twitter, facebook, and myspace and began blasting articles one day at time. I wasn’t selling anything, just providing information from other musicians. You didn’t have to agree or disagree with their point of view. If it works for them.. God Bless. If it doesn’t work for them, read another article or write your own.

How much time do you spend looking at other peoples’ blogs?

Not so much at first, but as I went searching for answers that were asked from the submission widget on the site, I spent a great deal of time searching for those answers. There are a lot of great blogs out there and some real shit ones. Its been nice to mold Head Above Music after some of the quality sites I’ve come across.

How do you measure success? Do you have goals in place to measure growth, traffic, and/or reader engagement?

I first measure success by how many unique readers I get a month. Second, how long do they stick around and the bounce rate from one article to another? Third, how many people are listening or clicking to the links provided by the artists that wrote the article.

What is the return on blogging for you?

For right now, it’s knowing I’m helping other musicians out by either giving them new information or exposing them to new music.

How do you respond to engagement on your blog? How do you leverage current engagement to increase future engagement?

Its really easy for me to see who is reading what. So if one topic is really getting a lot of traffic, I try to find more opinions and articles on that topic to present a wider view.

How often do you respond to comments left on your blog? Are there times when you should and/ or should not respond to comments?

People often leave opinions rather than questions in response to leaving a comment. I tend to leave it alone. Its their opinion and I’m happy to have a place for them to share it.

How do you track the success and popularity of each link? Do you use bit.ly or any other link-shortening/ tracking systems?

Google Analytics and Hoot Suite are most convenient for me. They do just enough tracking as far as page visits and link visits, click throughs and letting me know where my traffic is coming from. Some people might need more juice behind their statistics but I’m not there yet.

What are the benefits of an attractive article title?

HUGE!! My articles are listed as such, so it’s the only thing capturing my audience’s attention. Here are my top articles below. You can see that each article clearly states what you’ll find within the article. Clarity is more important than creative, especially when people are new to your site. It seems that my top site might be from this site MicControl.com, I never really heard of them though…. And they’re awesome.

Do you use any sort of SEO progams (search engine optimization) to help increase traffic to your blog?

Its good to do your SEO research. I use wordpress that allows you to add your own SEO. Its always good to know as much as you can about promoting your blog or band web site. Read up on how SEO can help you so you can climb out of the deepest depths of the internet universe.

What is the best way to integrate a blog into existing social networks like Facebook?

Don’t bother people all day long. Post your blog where it needs to be seen and move on to the next day. Its like posters at a club. You put too many up, they blend in to the background and people ignore them. Strategically place a few and it will catch people’s eye amongst the clutter.

From your experience, has Facebook helped to increased reader engagement? Traffic?

Hell yes, my friend. I have a large number of “personal” facebook friends, 550 and counting Head Above Music friends and almost 2,000 musician fan page friends. I post an article and a few people are bound to read them and pass it on if they find it worthy. But those numbers are there by conversing and caring about the people you interact with on Facebook.

You can dismiss social media all you want, but when the numbers are there, its just a fact that more people will hear your music and read your blog.

What do musicians want to avoid doing when promoting their blog?

Selling something, avoid selling something, especially as a musician. Use this opportunity as a window into your world of creative endeavors for the pure purpose of sharing it with others. If you do this honestly and creatively, people will buy your music without you ever having to mention it.

Check back tomorrow for part 3 of the MicControl.com interview series: The Blogging Side Of Music. We will be speaking with award winning producer and blues musician, Peter Malick about his experiences as a musician and a blogger.

Be Sure To Check Out:
Part 1: Matt Moran, songwriter/ blogger on content, consistency and benefits.

The Blogging Side Of Music will explore the dos and don’ts, the styles and techniques, and ultimately the tips and strategies of a successful music blogger. Each day, Each interview will feature of a different style of music blogger, ranging from a musician who uses a blog as part of his promotional strategy to the general manager of a major digital PR firm who runs a music marketing strategies blog.

http://miccontrol.com/#/micschool/the-blogging-side-of-music-dave-tamkin/

by Tom Hess

Are you satisfied with your guitar playing skills right now? Are you playing guitar at the level you want to? Have you been making the kind of progress you are happy with throughout your life as a musician?

I don’t know about you, but when I was starting to learn guitar (many years ago), I couldn’t honestly answer “Yes” to any of these questions.  So if your response is similar, then you and I probably have a lot in common.  I used to doubt if I would ever develop guitar skills to the same level as my favorite guitarists and become the musician I wanted to be.  If you are still reading this, then you probably are wondering (or have thought about) the same things.  Looking back now, I understand why I was feeling this way.  I also understand that if I had stayed in that mental state, I would never have gotten out of the rut I was in and progressed as a player.

Today I want to share with you some valuable advice that will help you overcome your frustrations.  These ideas (discussed below) certainly have made it much easier for me to overcome my own guitar playing struggles and they have been just as significant for the great number of guitar players that I have worked with.

The first thing that you need to do in order to eliminate your guitar playing problems, is to become crystal clear about what the real problems are (rather than simply observing the surface level “symptoms” of problems).  Let me further illustrate the importance of this to you with a short story about one of my students.

From Frustration to Greatness!
One of my most advanced students, Mike Philippov, started lessons with me as an early intermediate player.  He was not satisfied with the rate of his progress in reaching his musical goals.  Like most students, he told me about his frustrations by describing things that he thought “were” problems, but in reality were simply surface level symptoms of deeper causes.  One of the first things I did was help Mike to understand and see the difference between the symptoms and the core causes of his problems.  Now for the first time, he began to understand the issues that needed to be improved before he could begin to advance at a much faster pace.  With this insight, I created specific strategies which enabled us to make his approach to practicing and reaching his goals highly effective.  That was a key factor to all of Mike’s successes and the end of his struggle and frustration.

Through our lessons that followed, and of course through Mike’s practicing, drive and dedication, he has since become a great virtuoso guitarist and professional musician.  You can listen to his playing here.

What About You?
How much do you know about the core causes of your frustration and struggles?  How deep is your perspective?

Let’s look at an example: If one of your challenges is to play cleaner, you might say something like, “My playing is sometimes sloppy.” (if so, then you are stating your “symptom”, not your problem). In order to discover the “problem” you might analyze the movements of each hand and notice that your picking motions are inefficient. This would be part of your problem. In fact, there are probably many other problems which are all contributing to your sloppy guitar playing. Each of these ‘problems’ has one or more “core causes”.  It could look something like this:

Identifying, understanding and overcoming each of the core causes is the only way to efficiently, effectively and permanently solve your unique problems.

If you’re not sure about what specific issues are resulting in your guitar playing problems, take this test to see if you are on the right track to improving your guitar playing.

10 Tips to Get Relief for Your Musical Frustration.

Tip #1. Give Yourself Credit – Before looking to improve something, look at the progress that has already been made. Appreciate and be thankful for that. Remember when you were a beginner and you couldn’t play at all? You would have been happy to have the skills you have now.  Appreciate this, and feel good about what you have achieved up to this point.  Many people beat themselves up over their own playing when they are really pretty good already. This does not mean that you should become complacent or lose motivation to improve, it only means to be happy with yourself and your playing as you continue to improve and move forward as a guitar player and musician.

Tip #2. Become Aware of That Which Empowers and Inspires You – There may be certain things, moments, scenarios, events, places or people that make you feel good about yourself as a musician.  These things are different for each musician.  Perhaps you become very inspired by going to see a concert.  Or maybe you get very motivated by watching or jamming with musicians who are currently better than you.  Or, maybe you become inspired by revisiting some of your old recordings that you have made 3 6 or 12 months ago and seeing how much you have improved.  Being able to realize (and have tangible proof of) how much you have grown as a musician is a powerful inspirational force for some people.  Whatever these things are, anything that gets you away from concentrating on the temporary frustrations and setbacks and focuses you on your motivation and inspiration is what you should surround yourself with.

Tip #3. Are You a Guitar Player, a Musician, or an Artist? – The way you see yourself and the way you see who you want to become will create fundamental shifts in your thinking and in the ways you feel about your progress.  For example, if you see yourself mainly as a guitar player, you may approach your practicing with a certain mindset.  Most of your efforts would focus on improving your guitar playing skills.  On the other hand, as a musician, your focus will span a wider range of activities in addition to your guitar playing, such as developing your musical skills (aural skills, understanding of how music works, songwriting etc.).  Finally, as an artist, self expression becomes the most important goal and everything that you know about music and guitar become mere tools to express the art that is inside you (and self expression becomes the pinnacle of what you do).  Now, I am not saying that any one of these 3 things is better than the other 2, but you need to become aware of where you fall on this continuum and whether or not you want to make a shift more toward a different direction (and if not, then in what ways can you further improve your current position?).  Making the shift from a being a guitar player to becoming a musician or an artist will definitely change ways in which you think and feel about your progress and practicing in general.

Tip #4. Small Changes Can Make a Big Impact – Sometimes small changes in your practicing habits can make a big difference in your results.  For example, reorganize your practice routine so that items that require the most of your concentration are practiced first when your mind is fresh.  If you are strapped for time (or if you are having trouble maintaining intense concentration over longer practice sessions), divide your practice time into manageable blocks to improve your effectiveness.  These little practice sessions will add up.  Also, analyze your practice environment.  If you are currently practicing with a lot of distractions (your TV is on, or you answer the phone every time it rings or lots of people are coming and going around you etc..) then you need to eliminate them before you can start to see maximum returns on your investment of practice time.  Also, you should record your progress in areas that can be measured (such as the speed at which you can play certain exercises and passages).  There are many ways to do this, but regardless of what system you use to record your progress, I highly encourage you to DO it!  Little ideas like this, when combined together, can make a substantial difference in your progress.

Tip #5. Big Changes Make a Bigger Impact – Although the small ideas discussed above are certainly good, if you take bigger steps and make bigger changes in your approach to learning guitar and music, you can expect much bigger rewards.  For example, if you are frustrated with your inability to progress beyond a certain point AND if you are self taught and have never taken lessons before, then perhaps you should look into getting a teacher (or a different teacher if you are not seeing enough progress with your current one).  As we have already discussed, the first step to changing your playing for the better is to recognize that SOMETHING must change.  If what you are doing now is not bringing you the result you want, you must change your approach until the results become favorable.

Tip #6. Let Time Be On Your Side – Many guitarists feel frustrated when big progress does not seem to come in a short period of time.  As a result, time is perceived as an enemy.  However, if you are making at least some progress over time and you are patient enough and let accumulated time work for you, then time in fact becomes your biggest advantage. Learning an instrument is much like investing money with a fixed rate of compound interest.  In the beginning, the investment seems to grow so slowly that it seems like you are watching grass grow, but over the years, the growth will explode because of the exponential power of compound interest. If you know that time is on your side, you will be sure to feel much better about your musical future.

Tip #7. Do You Want to Entertain, Impress, or Express? – We all have our own reasons about why we play and create music. No matter what your goals may be, ultimately you will either be involved in entertaining people, impressing people, or expressing something to people (or some combination of these things). The good news is that regardless of where your skills are now, you can probably already entertain some people.  You can probably already impress some people. And, you also can probably already express some of your thoughts and feelings. Maybe you can not yet do these things as well as you would like, but even an inexperienced guitar player can do these things on some level. Think about this the next time you feel frustrated with yourself… you may already add more value to yourself and others than you realize.

Tip #8. Compare and Copy the Feeling, Not the Music – Very often, guitarists strive to imitate their favorite players and become frustrated when they are unsuccessful in doing so.  A very effective way to solve this problem is to focus on imitating the FEELING that you get from a certain player’s music, rather than buying the same gear as them or striving to imitate all the nuances of their playing.  Instead, if you concentrate on reproducing the same feeling and evoking the same emotions that you get from the music of others in YOUR own way, you will end up much more fulfilled. Not only will you achieve the level of musical satisfaction you are after, but you will also very often develop your own original style in the process.

Tip #9. Turn the Tables. - Frustration can help you or hurt you depending on how you deal with it.  I’ve told the story in one of my previous articles about how as a teenager, my guitar playing friends and I went to see Yngwie Malmsteen perform in Chicago. After the concert, some of my friends felt depressed after hearing Yngwie. Many didn’t want to play guitar for several days and one actually quit playing completely.  My reaction to the concert was quite different.  Although I felt just as frustrated as my friends, I used my frustration as a massive positive inspiring force.  In the weeks that followed, I practiced much more than I ever had before. The point here is not to seek to avoid frustration, but to use it to your advantage.  Always try to turn your own musical frustrations into the biggest source of motivation you have.

Tip #10. You Are Not Alone! - Masters of all types of art have gone through what you are going through. There was a time when Beethoven, Bach, Yngwie, Van Halen, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Jimmy Page Zack Wylde (and many others). all felt just as frustrated as you.  Today you are at whatever skill level you achieved up to this point. Through your frustration and motivation, you will drive yourself to eventually reach your current goals. As you reach those goals, you will probably still feel frustrated because your desire to improve even further will make you establish new goals for yourself. And so the cycle will go on and on. But you too are progressing and improving more and more.

If you have not taken the above mentioned survey yet, I encourage you to do so now. Taking this test will help you to see if you are on the right track to improving your guitar playing.

Tom Hess is a professional touring guitarist and recording artist. He teaches, trains and mentors musicians from around the world. Visit tomhess.net to get free guitar playing tips and read more guitar playing articles.

By Ed Gershon Singer/Songwriter for Chicago’s Butterfly In Traffic

As a songwriter, it’s always fascinating for me to learn about how a musician creates their music. What are their secrets? It’s really just a spiritual ordeal that is beyond me. Since I’m not formally educated in music, I don’t sit down and write theoretically. I rely heavily on repetition-  which means recording constantly to archive ideas and complete songs.

In general, about 90% of the time, my songwriting process starts with me sitting down with a groove, a melody, and my acoustic. It’s also through jamming and exploring that the process begins. Sometimes I’m really lucky where I knock out the song right away, but most of the time- months are invested.  I’ve found recently that a smart phone, specifically iPhone, is the perfect tool for the beginning of the songwriting process.  The phone is able to handle vocals and an acoustic quite well when I don’t have the time to multitrack.  A loop station is another great option, if you don’t have access to a home studio. Once the process is moving, the lyrics begin to develop for me. When the final song structure takes place I’ll multitrack the song, so I can share it with the band for feedback.

I’ll also throw the new material on my iPod to listen to it critically, and make adjustments if necessary. The band will come in and start adding their personal take on it, transitions may be added at that time. It’s at that point, that I really see the potential of the song. The best part is sharing it with the fans and seeing what happens the first night it hits the stage. I hope my experiences are helpful along this amazing journey that is music.

Peace,

Ed Gershon

www.butterflyintraffic.com/

www.myspace.com/butterflyintraffic

www.digstation.com (Listen to the EP)

Ed Gershon Recommends:

1. Garcia – one of my favorite guitarists of all time – here is a link to the book
2. My favorite piece of gear would have to be my Taylor 612ce
3. Can’t live on the road without my iPod.

Your relationship with your fans has never been more important. They hold the money and are the ones that want to buy directly from you. They love your music and are whom you need to develop an intimate relationship with if you want your band’s career to grow. If used right Email and Email management is a powerful tool to make that fan relationship grow. Email can be used in a range of ways such as a personalized message to give them an update on your band or a call for action to buy something from you.  We have put together what we believe are the 17 best ways to use Email to connect with and grow your fan base and sales.

1. Bands (and not management or interns) should always write their own emails to be authentic.
2. Noon Eastern time on Monday, Tuesday or Wednesday is the idea time to send broadcast Emails to your fans when people are at work across the US and Europe.
3. The ideal frequency of emails to fans is about every 2 to 4 weeks with updates on your tour, merch and music announcements.
4. Negotiate upfront if you leave from a record label that you keep your email list and you own it.
5. Give great deals on email offers for pre-orders, such as a $50 package for $25.
6. Don’t put links to iTunes and Amazon in your Emails. Fans want to buy direct from you so always link them directly to your home site.
7. In each Email make sure you have direct and separate links to buy merch, buy tour tickets and buy music. Don’t be afraid to have a big “Buy” button at the top of the Email.
8. Sell Email exclusive package offerings around holidays such as Christmas, Halloween, Cinco De Mayo, etc or just give some music away for free that day in exchange for an email.
9. Your fan Email lists are gold and building them up is huge! Collect emails and zip codes from your fans at shows or ask for them when giving away something for free like a download.
10. Pay someone to go around and collect emails and zip codes at your shows. It’s that important.
11. Ask your merch company for the emails and zip codes for the fans that bought your merch.
12. Send emails by zip code so you can target upcoming shows to promote them and ask them to come out.  The best time to send a show announcement is 30 to 45 days before the show date. The ideal time to send an email reminder about an upcoming show in a particular town is 5 days before the show. Offer them something special like a $5 coupon off at your merch table. In the subject line put the name of that city such as “New Tour Date announced in Chicago”. This will personalize it and increase the overall open rate for that Email.
13. Don’t go overboard in graphics and special effects in your Email but make it look nice and spend some time designing it.  Resize images in HTML as they download quicker.
14. Before you send out a fan Email send a test email to you and your band members Email to see how it looks and fix any issues before sending.
15. If you have only a fans Email and no zip code give something away for free such as a live show recording or free album download in exchange for it and tell them it will help you more effectively communicate with them in the future about tour dates or special appearances in their city. It’s the truth.
16. Don’t cut and paste blanket Emails to your fans. Be authentic even if it takes you longer as it will go so much further this way. They will tell a friend this band sent me a personal Email and viral marketing will begin. Split up the Emails and get everyone in the band involved.
17. Send an Email to fans in a particular city you just played and thank them for their support and have a local connection in your email to those fans and tell them what you did in or thought about their city besides your show.

If we missed one that you have found to be successful in your Email marketing experience please email us at info@musicnomad.com We would love to hear your ideas and share them with other musicians.  Thanks for your support and if you liked this article you can find a lot more as well as thousands of ranked and reviewed resources that help independent musicians at MusicNomad.com

MusicNomad is a musicians advocate organization that tries to make sense of the vast and fragmented music industry through researching, interviewing, reviewing and ranking thousands of companies in the music industry and filtering the ones that can really help musicians. They then do write ups on the companies, rank them and give you a direct link to their website.  There are also tips, news and articles for musicians to explore.  The Website (www.musicnomad.com) is free to use and focuses on fighting for the underdog, independent musicians!

By Tom Canning
Ipswich,
United Kingdom

Finding information about recording on a shoestring budget isn’t easy.  Sure, there are plenty of articles online that can guide you through buying sensibly and cheaply, but very few that actually, from start to finish, give you an idea of how to record your songs with the most merge of funds. There must be thousands out of people out there in the same position – many of whom have never even tried to record for this very reason.  Cost can be prohibitive, but in fact, excluding instruments and assuming you have a desktop computer, you can get pretty good results for less than £100 ($150).

When I started recording I didn’t have the funds to invest in a microphone, mixer, soundproofing, mic stand, pop shield, monitors, keyboard, low latency sound card – the list goes on!  I found this incredibly frustrating.  I started with nothing but a cheap electro-acoustic guitar and wanted to find a way just to get some songs recorded and learn about making music in the process.

My first recordings were incredibly basic.  My cheap ‘Encore’ electro-acoustic had a terrible pre-amp, my microphone came free with a children’s home recording kit and I was laying tracks down through my record player’s pre-amp!  I would plug my guitar or mic into my pre-amp and then my pre-amp straight into the back of my desktop computer’s line-in socket.  I would then use Audacity (a free recording program, but not a sequencer) to form my tracks.  The vocal track would have to be chopped up and arranged over the guitar, as my computer’s sound card produced a delay (latency) that meant by the end of the song everything was out of time!

Using this method I recorded nineteen tracks across 3 mini EPs.  The sound quality wasn’t great, and yes sure there was buzzing, hissing and mistakes, but what was noticeable was the improvement in quality just over those three discs.  None of my equipment changed in that time, it was just that I had to learn what worked and what didn’t.  Through mainly trial and error I had to learn how to use the mic to the best of its abilities, how to set-up the levels on the guitar and the levels required to satisfactorily mix the tracks.  This is a very important point, as it highlights that however good your equipment is you need to know how to use it to get the most out of it.  As I say, the best method I found for this was trial, error and practice.  I would still recommend this ‘have a go’ method, but today there are so many videos online that can help with the individual tasks of recording a vocal track and mixing down etc.

Despite all the problems and labor intensive nature of the process, I was able to get my ideas down and condensed to mp3 files that I could share with family and friends.  And, as a novice with no idea what I was doing I was pleased with the results.  More importantly I had begun a learning process that continues to this day.

By the time I was thinking of recording more songs I felt I wanted to upgrade a few bits and pieces.  I picked up a ‘Yoga’ dynamic mic from my local electrical supplier for around £34.99 (around $52).  Of course a condenser microphone would be the better option quality-wise.  However, the problems of providing a phantom power source and the prohibitive cost that comes with it meant that this wasn’t an option.  At the time you would struggle to purchase a condenser mic for less than £100 (around $150) which does not include the phantom power unit to get it going.  Although, like my last mic, the Yoga was still a dynamic mic, there was a big step up in quality.  Plus, the fact that it came with a detachable XLR cable improved the quality and gave me the option of upgrading or replacing the cable if necessary.

At the start of this year I thought I would have another go at recording again.  I had written a few scrappy ideas for songs and when I bought a new electro-acoustic I decided to give it a go.  The guitar was a Tanglewood TW145ASC, picked up for the reduced bargain price of £280 ($413).  The solid top and bottom to the guitar and fantastic pre-amp gave me a big improvement in tone.  At the same time I learned of M-Audio’s range of audio hardware.  I ditched my now ailing record player pre-amp and plumped for the M-Audio Session Make-Music-Now Software for the PC.  It was the cheapest option at around £20 ($30) and as I had just shelled out for my guitar it seemed the most sensible option.  With a USB plug on one end, and inputs for headphones and a mic or guitar on the other, it acts as an external soundcard, bypassing your computer’s internal soundcard, to provide very low latency (delay when recording).  The package included a perfectly adequate sequencer too.  I also purchased the cheapest midi keyboard I could find – an Evolution eKeys USB keyboard.  The cost from eBay was about £25 ($36).  All I needed was a device that would allow me to easily record and drop midi lines over the top of my music – nothing fancy.  At the same time I bought a perfectly adequate mic stand and pop shield, both for around £10 ($15) each.

If anything my home studio was now looking a little more professional!  The improvement in sound quality was instantly noticeable, and although I still feel I am a little way off in terms of getting the best out of the equipment I have, I am enjoying the process of tweaking to do just that.  As funds become available I will upgrade to a condenser mic (possibly the highly affordable Behringer C1) together with a phantom power supply, both of which have come within the grasp of cash-strapped amateurs in the last few years.

The key message, particularly for young musicians, is do not be put off.  Enjoy the process of tweaking and finding out what works and what doesn’t with the kit you have.  Above all be inventive.  If you don’t have a pre-amp to record through – try a guitar pedal, if you don’t have a pedal see what else works.  You hear a lot about studio quality being the ideal, but don’t get hung up on achieving it.  Just give it a go and remember that, whatever the quality of your kit, a well written song will always shine through.

Favourite book: Without doubt – ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’ by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. If you haven’t read it beg, steal or borrow a copy!

Favourite bit of gear: My Tanglewood TW145ASC – an excellent value but high quality guitar.

Thing I couldn’t live on the road without: I’ve only had a handful of gigs and don’t tour. However, in the one or two gigs I have done I have found that having really good friends helps!

-Tom

http://www.myspace.com/thomascanningmusic

tomcanning@gmail.com

Many of my all-time favorite songs are “growers” – album tracks that don’t really grab you the first few spins, but eventually dig their hooks in and don’t let go. Few artists these days have the luxury of writing growers, because listeners aren’t willing to invest that kind of time. Unless the artist is proven to deliver, the listener will tune out and move on. While I’m a huge fan of the album format, it’s hard to deny the shifting focus from albums to individual songs. Every one of those songs needs to grab the listener’s attention and hold it until the last note – preferably longer! In order for your songs to be grabbers rather than growers, they must have clear and familiar structures.

The textbook pop song structure is verse – chorus – verse – chorus – bridge (also known as the “middle eight”) – chorus. At its most basic level, structure is repetition. If no element of the song repeats, it has no structure. Every repetition of the verse and chorus is another chance for the listener to fall in love with the song. The one section of the song that doesn’t repeat, the bridge, has been phased out in favor of a short break or instrumental solo. Don’t get me wrong – plenty of popular songs still have bridges, but it’s not the staple it once was. As much as I hate to dumb down my songs, I recognize the wisdom in simplicity. Until you’ve got a substantial following, two sections – a verse and a chorus – is plenty.

Not to say you have to follow the traditional form to the letter! There’s plenty of room for variation. You could:

• Start with the chorus
• Throw in an extra verse before the first chorus to allow further exposition
• Substitute a third verse for the break for the same reason
• Cut the first chorus in half, in which case you’ll probably want to…
• Add an extra chorus at the end

To extend the structure a bit further, you could insert a prechorus (also known as the “build”) between the verse and chorus. While the prechorus ups the complexity by adding a third section, the crucial difference between the prechorus and bridge is that the former repeats. Should you choose to go this route, I suggest eliminating the break in favor of a third prechorus (V-PC-C-V-PC-C-PC-C).

OK, so you’ve got a catchy verse and an explosive chorus. You’ve got lyrics laced with concrete imagery that tell a universal story in a fresh and imaginative way. Too much repetition can be annoying, but it takes more than most songwriters are willing to dare. How do you arrange the song to include just the right amount, so that it repeats without sounding repetitive? Here are some ideas (I’d love to hear yours in the comments!):

1. Break up the groove. Start the song with sparse instrumentation and stagger the introduction of rhythmic elements over course of the first verse. Or, drop the drums and bass at the end of the verse to explode into the chorus. Solo the vocals for a few beats. If you’re ending with a double chorus, thin the arrangement for the penultimate chorus to make the ending seem huge. Filter the whole mix and automate the cutoff frequency. Drop to a half time feel, or bump it up to double time. The possibilities are endless.
2. Add a new element. A new guitar line or synth arpeggio can make a verse feel fresh, even when everything else is the same. Maybe it’s as simple as playing eighth notes on the hi-hat instead of quarter notes, or dropping the bass down an octave. Be careful not to clutter the midrange, or you’ll compete with the lead vocal.
3. Layer the vocals. Highlight important words or phrases with harmonies, yells, or whispers. Double the chorus lead vocal, and gradually stack harmonies over the course of the song. Ad lib over the final chorus, R&B style, or superimpose lines from the verse.
4. Vary the lead vocal treatment. Automate the reverb to swell on a long note, add a delay to the last word of each phrase, use a bandpass EQ for “radio voice,” or if you’re not afraid to jump on the bandwagon, do the autotune thing.

While there’s more to a great song than clear structure, a song without obvious repetition is destined to fail. Don’t equate sophistication with quality. Win listeners over with simple strong structures. Write songs that can be easily appreciated, and they might just promote themselves.

Check out Brian’s latest song here: http://colortheory.com/it-must-be-halloween

The death of the bridge is a post from: Passive Promotion – “Set it and forget it” music promotion Copyright 2010 Brian Hazard. All Rights Reserved.

Hope those are helpful. Mindset and approach are half the battle.

“Well begun is half done” ~ Yin Chian Ho

T. Reed Recommendations:

Book: ‘Simple Steps to Impossible Dreams’

Best Gear: Nord Modular G2

Can’t do without on the road: Tai Chi

BIO: T. Reed performed with the “avante rock” group Vivid Psyche (from the mid 80’s through the early 90’s), then founded the theatrical industrial metal shock rock band Morpheus Sister (sharing the stage with Marilyn Manson, Deftones, Clutch, Love&Rockets, Godflesh, Helmet and others).

T. Reed and his team of colleagues specializing in film and video, produced music videos that appeared on the same (U.S.) VJ reels with Nine Inch Nails and Nitzer Ebb.

Morpheus Sister was disbanded in 2000 to provide the time to pursue production and composing opportunities.

You can see the last video created for Morpheus Sister here:video excerpt @
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xmy-Lu3-bUA

Currently T.Reed has added writing screenplays and short stories to his agenda as well as writing the for the Nightmare Sound Laboratory Blog which covers topics of music, cinema, the entertainment industry, horror/sci-fi, robots, monsters, experimental music and

mad scientists @ http://nightmaresoundlab.blogspot.com

And for :http://CaptainPoetryBlog.com

T. Reed – Composer

Websites & Projects

http://www.taoxproductions.com

http://www.myspace.com/kaijusonic

http://www.myspace.com/riseoftheretrobots

http://www.myspace.com/theantipriest

http://www.youtube.com/user/taoxproductions