Tips for More Effective Practice
If you’re like most musicians, time can get away from you. For some professionals and part-timers alike, practice often takes a back seat to other tasks like marketing, recording, billing, teaching, writing, or any number of other things. Not only that, but it’s also hard to continue growing as an artist without practice. So, facing less time to practice along with pressure to get better, it’s always a good idea to maximize your practice sessions. To that end, here are a couple of pro tips for more effective practice.
Upping Your Musical Game in 2023
Not everyone goes in for New Year’s resolutions. In fact, even among those who do, most resolutions go unfulfilled. Still, the end of one year and the beginning of another is as good a time as any to take a step back, reevaluate, and plan for improvement. Here are some thoughts on upping your musical game for 2023.
Finding the Right Gift for Musicians You Love
Musicians can be notoriously hard to buy for. Not all music equipment is equal, choices are personal, and musicians tend to snap up what they want when they want it. So, when Christmas comes around, it can be hard for loved ones to come up with the right gift. Still, it’s not impossible. Finding the right gift for a musician you love just takes a little patience and listening.
Amping Your Acoustic Guitar
Even if you’re a dyed-in-the-wool rocker, the occasional “unplugged” show is a great thing to do. If you’re a singer-songwriter with an acoustic, it’s all you do. But unplugged is pretty much always a misnomer, as it’s rare to see a totally unamplified acoustic guitar on stage.
Playing With No Bass Player
It’s hard to imagine a rock-n-roll lineup without at least one drummer, one guitar, and one bass. There’s a reason for that – bass fills in the low end and creates the foundation for a sound, and unless you’ve got some kind of nontraditional thing going, you need some kind of low-end foundation. 90% of the time that’s your bassist.
How to Work Originals Into Your Cover Band Set
The fact is, musicians are creative, and while some get all their joy from playing and none from writing, many working musicians would also like to get their own work heard. Not to mention, if you’ve got designs on creating a bigger act, playing only covers is extremely limiting. At some point, as you grow, you’ll be called upon to create your own sound.
Teaching a New Band a Song on Stage
As a singer/songwriter or solo act without a dedicated band, you may not get a lot of opportunities to rehearse and work out the “full band” version of your stuff. But that doesn’t necessarily mean you can’t step on stage with a band and let ‘er rip. In fact, it’s not uncommon to find yourself on stage with a house band or intrepid group of pros who want to play your songs right here and now.
KOA Acoustic Guitar Preamp Review
Sean Pierce Johnson reviews the KOA Acoustic Guitar Preamp on Stompbox Saturday. The KOA Acoustic Preamp offers classic, natural acoustic tone with unprecedented tonal control and extended headroom.
Using Electronic Drums on Stage
For the purist, the idea of using electronic drums on stage may sound like blasphemy, but there’s plenty of reason to do it – even if you’re in a full-on traditional rock band. An electronic kit may not be the beastly instrument a real drum kit is, but it can be useful either in place of or as an adjunct to the real kit. Here we’ll go over a few reasons why.
Finding Inspiration for New Songs
Sometimes song ideas just flow. Song after song basically writes itself. Other times writer’s block sets in and there’s nothing happening. But whether you’re at one extreme or somewhere in the middle, you still need sources of inspiration to draw from. Here are a few ways to find new inspiration for songs.
How to Maximize Sound Check
The soundcheck is where the magic happens – at least according to some. There’s no denying that a solid soundcheck is the best way to ensure everything works and sounds like you want come show time. But soundcheck is often an afterthought, and sometimes there’s very little time to get one in. So, it behooves any band to know how to make the most out of a short time for working out the kinks. Here are just a few ways to maximize your sound check.