The Good Musician

This is a simple and quick tip.
As a guitarist, my hands are probably something I’d get insured, if I could afford such a thing. In any case, when pursuing mundane tasks like typing on a keyboard or cooking, your hands are subject to abrasion. Your skin gets dry, the nails become brittle, rough and dry. We’ve spoken about efficient nail care before, but I needed to share this new gem I found:
Neutrogena’s Hand and Nail Cream.
Seriously, after applying it for just one night, my nails felt smoother the next morning, and they were whiter (as opposed to being slightly tanslucent). …read more

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Photography by Tim O’Brien.
You have a band, or are a solo artist, but getting gigs is often really hard.
It’s a hard-knock life for us music-lovers.
I used to have band. In our local town, there were a few clubs, and getting a gig there was tough, but not impossible. I learned a few tricks from teachers and professionals, which got me the edge over the competition.
The key, is to do business. Market yourself.
We achieved this by creating a band profile, a thin file with information and media about our band. Here’s how to do it:

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Bruce Houghton from Hypebot helped me out once more with some ideas for social music marketing. Here are 100 ways to promote your music in simple yet effective ways.

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Quick Note:
I had the honor of writing for one of b5media’s most prolific music blogs, Metal Martyr. The post I wrote describes some thoughts on the difficulties and challenges apsiring metal musicians face, and I think the tips are interesting to anyone, even if you hate metal to the death (which is a pity, because you should respect all genres).
Check out the post: How To Be A Metal Musician.

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After the numerous comments on the wildly successful post about John Williams, I thought I’d share my ideas with you all the same, concerning his performance we so heartily discussed in that very post.
(Side note: I know, I’m a great sarcast, but understand the humiliation of begging for comments and getting none ).
Here are some things he did that really struck me.

He smiles. I think this is an important aspect: If you can convey a feeling of happiness over a piece or performance, your audience will feel the same.

He is humble. Of course this is subjective, but to …read more

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It’s the weekend, and I’m home at my parents’ place, away from my guitars, thus giving me plenty of time to pursue some good musician habits that I’ve developed over the past 10 years – you can have them in 2 minutes.
Of course, installing a new habit takes a while, but they’re more fun than chore-like, and you’ll reap a lot of benefits that will support your awareness of music as well as your playing.

Subscribe to a few music radio streams. Pick a variety of genres.
Watch the Sunday morning mass transmissions. Here in Switzerland, Sunday mornings hold a lot of …read more

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