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My Nemesis, the Pedal Board

by Backstage: Making it Your Own Greenroom: 9 Comments

Yeah I know, you guitar players LOVE having gigantic pedal boards. Boys and their toys. I’m sure shopping for pedals is like women shopping for shoes… the guy version of ‘accessories.’ When I walk into a session and see massive pedal boards, my heart sinks. Not because I inherently hate pedals, but because I know […]

Things Can Blur When You’re Too Close

by Backstage: Making it Your Own Greenroom: Leave a Comment

Sometimes you need an outside perspective. Things can be a little blurry when you try to see things that are very close to you! For instance, when you write a song it’s hard to see what changes might need to be made… I always suggest having other, more experienced writers take a look at what […]

School of Rock: What You Didn’t Expect

by Backstage: Making it Your Own, The Foundation Greenroom: 1 Comment

There’s something that always happens when we work with an artist that you might not expect. If you’ve seen one of our Live Music Makeovers, you know to expect the song will be rearranged and you’ll see a new visual element to the performance. But something always happens to the artists themselves… and that’s what […]

I Feel Like Quitting

by Backstage: Making it Your Own Greenroom: 10 Comments

I don’t know about you, but sometimes I feel like folding up my tent and moving to a Caribbean island, completely forgetting about my career in music! I even have a lot of great things going on right now: a new book coming out, a Live Music Method Online Course just about ready to launch, […]

Persistence, Perspective, Priorities

by Backstage: Making it Your Own Greenroom: 6 Comments

Here are a few of the things on my “to do” list this week: get oil changed in cars put new windows in study for work with Fab Four prepare for workshops (Seattle, Minneapolis, Dallas, Army School of Music) set up tour support meetings for indie artists, Tanya Tucker, and Reba get ready for rehearsals: […]

A “Loving to Learn” Attitude

by Backstage: Making it Your Own Greenroom: 5 Comments

I’ve done numerous rehearsals with one of the biggest artists in music today. Millions of records sold, huge tours, radio, TV, awards for everything from best artist to best video to best entertainer. And the awards keep coming. Rehearsals with this artist are always a joy – creative, lots of energy, ideas floating out of […]

Do the Work, Live the Dream

by Backstage: Making it Your Own Greenroom: Leave a Comment

I remember putting a young new band from Canada onstage and doing a quick Live Music Makeover. I was demonstrating for a number of artists how much better a song, a band, could be with some fairly simple changes. I re-tooled the song arrangement a bit, rearranged how the band was set up, expanded the […]

Thinking Rehearsal is Over Before it’s Really Over!

by Backstage: Making it Your Own Greenroom: 3 Comments
This entry is part 2 of 3 in the series Mistakes Most Artists Make

I’m often asked what I think the most common mistakes are that artists make in regard to their live show. I wrote about a common mistake last week, which had to do with misunderstanding what spontaneity is. And if Mistaking “Winging It” for Spontaneity is the first mistake musicians make, then the next big mistake […]

There is no Perfect Gig – Keith Richards speaks

by Backstage: Making it Your Own Greenroom: Leave a Comment

We’ve all been there. Your band is doing sound check and there’s a major problem with the room. The sound is bouncing everywhere. Your monitors are acting up and you can’t hear yourself, let alone anyone else. There’s feedback coming from SOMEwhere but your soundman can’t seem to find it. You sigh and think, “Someday […]

Sometimes We Need to be Reminded

by Backstage: Making it Your Own Greenroom: 3 Comments

Spending some time in the studio helps me remember… I’m not a big fan of the recording studio. I’ve been traveling this last week (with great beach weather wherever I went, by the way!). First I was in Virginia Beach working with US Army musicians from around the world. Then I headed down to Orlando […]