. I wanted that guitar SO bad. I grew up listening to Eric Clapton, David Gilmore and Jimmy Hendrix, and during my college years I was a huge fan of Stevie Ray Vaughn. The Fender Stratocaster was the guitar of choice for these incredible guitar players and many more.

My tasted in guitars evolved as I learned, and I discovered that every guitar had their own personality in my hands. Some were sassy and bright, others were bad and loud, and still others just wanted to sing the blues. One of the coolest parts about owning a music store was being able to play thousands of different guitars of all makes and styles.

But my roots have always been with the Fender Strat. The secret to the amazing tone for the Strat lies in the traditional single could pickups, two piece body and the types of tone woods used to make the guitar. Fender offers the same pickups played by Jimmy Hendrix, or Eric Clapton. Fenders custom shop ’69 pickups will do the trick, or if you’re into Stevie Ray Vaughn you need Fenders Tex-Mex specials.

Probably the best way to play the same guitar as your guitar heroes is to purchase their signature model. Fender has signature models available for Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Robert Cray, Robin Trower, Rory Gallagher, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Buddy Guy, Yngwie Malmsteen, Eric Johnson and more.

Rather a “c” or “v” neck dressed up in maple or rosewood, nothing feels like a Stratocaster and nothing plays or sounds the same. In everyone’s life a little rain must fall, and in every guitarist life a Stratocaster must be played.

Strat’s are best known for their warm unique tone, but not all Strat’s are created equally. The tonal range will depend on the tone woods used in the neck and body as well as the type and configuration of pickups. When selecting a Strat to purchase take your time and research the various online forums to learn everything about the model you want to purchase. You may even want to visit your local retailer and play a few, just to get a better feel for the playability of the model you desire. Sometimes you may find that what you think you want and what you really like are quite different. Once you are convinced of what you HAVE TO HAVE, you should check out the various online retailers. In most cases you will find better prices on line then at your local store.

Buying your Strat will be one of the best days of your life. So enjoy every moment and remember that you are not purchasing just a guitar, you are purchasing something from your dreams.

If anyone or any company feels that your music will not make them money, there will be absolutely no interest in your music. That’s it in the nut shell. Remember, to always remember this. The Music Industry is about Money!

There are a few sources of money to be made in the music industry.

They include but are not limited to:
· Record sales
· Songs played on the radio
· In movies and television
· Concerts
· Song writing
· Producing
· Merchandising
· Advertising
· CD-ROMs/DVDs

If you are an artist and want to get into the music business, you need 3 very important very good people in your corner batting for you on a daily basis.

They include:

Personal Manager – The most of important of the three. They should have contacts in the music industry, keep on eye on all your affairs, advise you on things to do, help promote your music, producers to hire, who to sign with when to go on tour, etc. The personal manager will receive 15% and 20% of an artists gross earnings and have good contacts with record companies A&R, Marketing /Sales and Promotion departments.

Music Attorney – A good attorney specializing in the music will know how to properly negotiate and structure the deals an artist makes. They should have good contacts and be trust worthy. Expect to pay between 100 and 200 per hour for a good music attorney. If an attorney thinks you will get signed, they forego a set fee and charge a percentage of artist’s earnings. In bigger cities, you’ll pay more than in smaller cities.

Music Agent – Book concerts and special appearances. A Personal Manager will help the artist with selecting a good agent. If you blow up and start generating the big money, then a good Manager/Accountant will be needed to handle your tax situation, review royalty statements, financing tours, offer invest advice and how to manage your money.

Getting recognized by mailing your demo to record labels isn’t impossible, however, 99.9% of the time your material will not get listened to. Even if you have the best song on the planet, it will not be listened to. Record labels want to limit their liability, so they do not listen to unsolicited music. Record labels don’t want to listen to numerous songs and then be held liable if someone claims their material was copied.

If you do decide to mail your CD to record label, send the “solicited” material. First get a contact, preferably an individual in the Artists & Repertoire (A&R) department. Call and first speak to someone. After sending your CD follow up to determine if the targeted individual received your material and another follow up call to determine if it was listened to. Submit 3 to 6 songs and send a bio and picture of yourself. Again this isn’t the preferred way to submit your material to major record labels.

Until you have music business advisors in your corner trying to promote you and there is a “buzz” going around about you, your demo will not reach the decision makers at the record labels. Record companies on a daily basis receive thousands of unsolicited CDs. Most likely your CD will be tossed into a bin located in a remote room filled with overflowing bins of CDs.

Record labels like to deal with artists who have a history of record sales. These are artist that may have produced and sold their own CDs locally or regionally. Record labels like to deal with artists who have performed their material and there is this “buzz” going on about them. MC Hammer, before he became famous, performed his own materials and sold his own records until a major record label signed him. MC Hammer had a lot of leverage in negotiating a good contract because he already proved on a local basis he could sell records.

Record companies want to limit their liability. If you are signed, you are considered an investment that will require some money and they want to see a premium return on their money invested in you. The more you can prove that you can sell record, the better chance you can get signed.

If you get signed to a record company, you the artist will go into the studio and record songs for the record company. The record company makes copies of the master recording and ships it to a distributor. The distributor is a wholesaler who then sells the CDs to retail outlets like Best Buy, Sam Goody and Tower Records. The record company then pumps money into marketing by advertising and promoting your music with hopes of selling records, thus making you a superstar and becoming rich!

It is not as easy as it sounds. It takes a lot of hard work by a talented group of people. Everyone has to work together to make this happen. There are usually many people behind the scenes working to make an artist a superstar.

Record companies often categorized into 4 groups:

Major label record companies – have the recording and operating resources to complete all function to sell records. Major label record companies are integrated in that they can handle the promotion, sales, marketing, and distribution to sell music.

Major label record companies are Arista, Atlantic, Capital, and Sony.

Major label affiliate labels – have special agreements with the major label record companies, where the major label may fund the smaller labels recording and operating expenses in exchange for a portion of the smaller label profits.

Independent labels – distributes records through major labels. Independent labels have few employees. They tend to find talent, sign the talent, sees to it the music is recorded and contracts with major record labels to perform the promotion, marketing, and other functions.

True independent labels – Has no association with a major label and distribute their music through independent distributors.

The A&R (Artists & Repertoire) Department - The A&R department is the talent scout. They are in charge of finding new talents. They are the eyes and ears of the record company. However, not because you get signed to a record label because an A&R representative likes you it doesn’t mean your CD will ever get produced and released. Executives higher in the company could cancel your deal if they feel your CD will not sell. A record company will have to invest several hundred thousands of dollars to release your CD, so they will be extremely cautious on whom they release.

The Marketing and Sales Department - This department is responsible for getting the public excited about your music and first selling to retail stores the idea of carrying your CD. They are responsible for promotional merchandise, advertising your CD, in store displays, publicity, your CD cover, etc.

The Promotions Department - This department is responsible for getting your music played on the radio. The individuals in this department will visit the various radio stations to convince them to play your material. If your material doesn’t get played, no one will now how you are. People will look at your CD in the retail store and wonder who you are. There is also a direct correlation with CD sales vs. how many times a song for that CD gets played on the radio. More air time on the radio equals more CD sales for the record companies.

Remember music is art, but to the record companies, it’s about money. Keep in mind that it’s a business. Keep in mind everyone is out to make money. The minute people believe that you will not make money for them, you will be dropped and these same people will turn to seek other new artists that they believe will make them money. Unfortunately, the record business doesn’t believe in grooming people. If your first CD isn’t a success, you are out. There are rarely second chances. There are always other talented people behind you who want their shot at fame.

Distribution - Most major retailers such as Tower records will not carry a CD unless the record has a distributor. A strong distributor ensures that your CD will be available in enough places so your CD will sell to ultimately make money. Major labels use large distributors who are better able to get record stores stocked. After years of consolidation, there are only 5 major national wholesale distributors in the US who are owned by conglomerates who also own major record labels.

They are:

· BMG (distributes Arista, BMG and RCA)
· EMI (distributes Capital and Virg.)
· Sony Music (distributes Columbia, Epic and Sony)
· Universal Music Group (distributes Interscope, Island/Def Jam, and MCA)
· WEA (distributes Atlantic, Elektra and Warner Bros.)

Distribution via the Internet Record labels and artists are increasingly using the web to distribute their music. Unknown artists can also use sites like this mZeus.com, http://www.mZeus.com, to generate buzz about their music. However, unknown artists will still have to work hard to get the buzz going about their music. Ultimately, signing a contract with a major record label is the way to go. The major record labels have the financial muscle and people to give you a good shot at becoming famous.

Let’s face it. It’s all about money! Yes, the entertainment industry seems fun and exciting, but people are in it to make money. As an artist the most important contract in the music industry is the record contract. The royalty is a portion of money from record sales paid to the artist for his/her music. The record contract which is a negotiated legal agreement between the record label and artist will state how much royalty an artist is entitled to among other things.

An artist should have a good understanding of how royalties are calculated. A good music attorney will help with this process by making sure the artist is paid what he/she deserves. A 13% royalty for one artist may be a lot of money, however a 13% royalty for another maybe “chump change”.

So this is how the numbers work. An artist successfully signs a record contract. The artist goes to the studio and work diligently to create a CD that the record company fully supports. The record company via its distributor sells the CD with a suggested retail list price (SRLP) of $17.99 to a retailer for about $10.99. The distributor will take 10% – 14% of the $10.99. Therefore the record company will get about ½ the SRLP of $17.99. Independent record companies may receive less than ½ the SRLP. Major record companies will pay artist royalty as a percentage of SRLP.

Rates will vary of each artist depending on how successful their record sells. For a new artist who never had a record deal or has sold less than 100,000 albums will get a typical royalty rate of 12% to 14% of the SRLP. For an independent record label it maybe 10% to 14% of the SRLP. For established artists who have a track record of selling 200,000 to 500,000 albums the royalty rate maybe 14% to 16%. For artists who have sold over 750,000 albums the royalty rates maybe 16% to 18%. As you can see, the more successful the artist is, the higher the royalty. Additionally, royalty maybe based on how well the record sells. For instance, the record contract may state that an artist will get 12% for the first 100,000 units sold, 14% for 100,001 to 300,000 units sold, and 16% for over 300,000 units sold.

But hold your horses. If you sell 500,000 albums and have a royalty rate of 12% doesn’t mean you will get 12% of 500,000 at a SRLP of $17.98 which would equal $1,078,800. This is because as specified in the record contract, there are deductions (expenses) that have to be deducted.

To start off the bat, the record company will deduct a “packaging charge” from the SRLP which is typically 20% for cassettes and 25% for CDs.

Second, more often the artist is responsible for paying the record producer a portion of his/her royalties. Typically a producer will receive 3% to 4% of the SRLP.

Third, in the record business, the contract may state that the artist’s only generates royalties on 85% of the unit sales. For every 100 albums sold, 15 albums sold, the artist gets no royalty.

Forth, the record company will hold a portion of the royalty money because the distributor typically has an agreement with the retail outlets to take back and credit the retail stores money from unsold units. This is very important, because a good portion of your album could be returned to the record company if the album doesn’t sell! The money that’s held back is called a reserve. Reserves maybe held for 2 years before it’s paid to the artist. Typically a major record label will hold a reserve of 25% to 40% of the royalties.

Fifth, advances paid from the record company to the artist are deducted from the artist’s royalty.

Advances include but are not limited to the:

· Recording studio expenses (new artists to an independent my get an advancement of $0 to $80,000, new artist to a major record label $150,000 to $400,000
· Hiring independent promoters to help sell the albums
· Cost of making a music video (promotions and an inexpensive music video can cost $150,000 to $200,000.

When money is made for the record sales, these costs are deducted from the artist’s royalties. This is called re-coupment. Therefore, if the artist’s record isn’t successful, the artist may never see a dime. If the royalties are less than the deductions, they artists may well owe the record company money by being in the red! This negative cost maybe carried over to the next album release. A good record contract will not allow a negative cost from one album to be carried over to another album (cross collateralization). If there isn’t another album the record company generally eats the loss.

There are many other costs that the record company will not charge the artists. This includes marketing and in-house promotions (free CD give away, etc.).

So how much does an artist make for a gold album (500,000 albums sold).

Check out the maths:

CD (suggested retail list price SRLP) = $ 17.99 Less CD Packaging of 20% = $ -4.50 NET = $ 13.49 Times: Net artist royalty rate (12% – 3% to producer) = X 9% Gross royalty per CD (9% of $13.48) = $ 1.21 Times 500,000 albums = $ 500,000 SUB TOTAL = $ 605,00 Times: Royalty bearing % (15% o = no royalty) = X 85% Gross Royalty = $ 514,250 Less advances: Recording, promo, music video, tour = $ -350,000 TOTAL ROYALTY TO ARTIST = $ 164,250 – Reserves (35%) returned by retailer) = $ -57,487.50 (1) ACTUAL ROYALTY PAID TO ARTIST = $ 106,762.50

(1)Reserves will be paid to artist in 2 years if no CDs returned by retailer.

Remember the artist still has to pay TAXES! Don’t forget Uncle Sam has to get his cut! Also, don’t forget the Personal Manger, the Attorney, the Accountant, the Agent and other numerous expenses.

However, there are many other royalties that an artist can acquire. They include, Record Clubs, Compilation CDs, Samplers (low-priced albums in which a few artists are featured), Premiums (albums sold with other products, such as cereal), Film Soundtrack Album, Music Video Sales, Greatest Hit’s Album, Foreign Royalties (song played in some foreign country radio stations pay royalties, unlike the US), Master Use License (music used in a movie, television, commercial, the Internet, CD-ROM and DVD), etc.

Of course because of the Internet, the rules royalties are changing. Many people now buy their music via the Internet. Just think, no packaging required and no distribution to traditional retail stores needed. Some websites allow customers to buy individual songs as oppose to an album. Changes are currently taking place on how royalties are calculated because of the Internet. Many attorneys are pushing to have royalties be based on each song sold as oppose to each album sold. So stay tuned!

Why Gig?

Well the reasons for this are fairly solid. Gone are the days when a band or solo artist could bring out a new recording and through marketing alone expect to cover costs and actually make a profit. The general public, that’s your audience, are much more inclined to buy one of your CDs if they have some sort of emotional attachment to you and your music. If they are not right there in front of you then you are just another picture on a screen asking them to part with their hard earned cash. Playing live is ultimately a means of communication and as such can serve as a way of bridging the digital gap between performer and audience. Remember, it’s not only physical CD sales that matter here; the ability to offer band merchandise, gain email and or other forms of contact addresses will help build up a base of fans who you can then inform.

Word of Mouth – The Power of The Gig

The other reason that getting out there is actually one hundred times more effective than getting seen on a computer screen is that people love to talk. Sounds obvious, however, it’s sometimes overlooked as the Internet seems to offer untold numbers of people. Consider this, however. If you play to two hundred people and the night is a storm, how many people do you think they will tell about you and your music? If each of those two hundred people tell just three people about you then your band name has seeped into and informed six hundred people; pretty impressive right but that is the power of true communication.

Making The Most of Your Gig and or Tour

If you have worked hard to get a couple of gigs or you have even managed to create a tour (take a big pat on the back for that one), remember the work is only just beginning. Apart from having to actually deliver each night, you really do need to maximise the potential that these dates give you. Radio and physical press (as well as online promotion) are an absolute must. Radio shows and physical press always want to know where the next performance is and to be honest, it is much harder to get these to avenues of promotion if you do not have any gigs lined up despite the quality of your album. So, make sure that you contact local press and radio a couple of weeks before appearing in the next place you play as the results of good promotion will pay you back time and again in the numbers who turn up.

gig advice for musicians

1. Real music management agencies will never, ever ask you for money up front. Managers make commission on their clients’ earnings, and experienced managers understand that an unknown artist doesn’t have much money. By taking on “developmental clients,” music management agencies cultivate both business and goodwill that they hope will pay off when an artist enjoys a modest breakthrough.

On the other hand, fly-by-night music management agencies run by rip-off artists know that there are plenty of talented people who are willing to believe that a fee of a few hundred dollars will get them attention from record labels and from radio stations. While it’s legitimate for a very small music management agency to ask for a small retainer to cover overhead expenses, this fee should be negotiated in advance and should be billed after the agency has done some work on a client’s behalf.

2. Real music management agencies can point you in the direction of successful clients, or can admit that they’re still so new that they haven’t had any breakout stars on their roster. Believe it or not, some of the most influential music managers of the last five decades had little or no experience in the music business. They just had the drive and the stamina to do great work for equally talented clients.

Meanwhile, you can tell most rip-off music management agencies by looking at their web sites or at their offices. If your potential managers seem to have collected hundreds of “grip and grin” photographs of themselves with some major stars, ask whether the manager did any actual work with that artist, or whether the just love to snap photos at industry “meet and greet” events. Many Nashville con artists stuff their offices full of artist photos to deliberately overwhelm the senses – and the judgment – of potential victims.

3. Real music management agencies handle business at the office, not at the gig. Professional music managers understand that live shows are the best possible marketing opportunities for bands to grow their audience and sell their merchandise. After all, the more money a band makes, the more money a music manager makes. Professional managers will, most often, grab some contact information from a band member or from the merchandise table, so they can make contact during business hours.

Unfortunately, many bands get taken in by the rip-off music manager that trades on the adrenaline rush after a live set. These scam artists often slide up to the stage right after a set, buying drinks (or even supplying drugs) to their targets. They play off the notion that many musicians love to party, and that signing with their (bogus) music management agency can lead to plenty more party nights. Before long, the so-called manager has snagged a hefty retainer, which they usually use to fund parties with their new marks.

Remember, professional music management agencies recruit new clients based on measurable results, not just based on a band’s performance at one club night or at one music conference. Just as sporting talent scouts keep an eye on potential pro athletes throughout their high school and college careers, real music management agencies may be watching your band grow from a distance. In the meantime, rely on your friends, your family, and your street team to provide the foundation you need to attract the right professional manager for your career.

Joe Taylor Jr. has written four books about the music business for aspiring musicians, including Music Management for the Rest of Us. You can learn more about finding professional music management agencies at: http://www.musicmanagementfortherestofus.com/agencies/

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music management

Confessions of A Scottish Rocker

Too old to rock and roll – too young to crochet!

By Billy The Mountain

All those years ago on the frosty and otherwise barren rock they call the United Kingdom, when I first picked up a guitar and eventually started making vaguely bluesy noises like Peter Green, Keef and Eric and Jimi, I was stoked enough to go out and bankrupt myself buying a ’69 Fender Stratocaster – a white one just like Jimi’s, but right-handed.

Soon enough I was in demand with my velvet loon pants, long brown hair, cool blues licks, rock star attitude borrowed from Top Of The Pops, and a yellow wah wah pedal which, with my first generation Fuzz Face, made me sound like Jeff Beck on speed.

Call it naivety but it never occurred to me that I was doing anything that might make me a fortune or a star one day. I was getting more than enough buzz off the HH amp, my cool Fender axe, fierce effects pedals and small town adulation to think seriously about actually making a living doing this. I spent most of my time worrying how I was going to pay for all that ‘hip’ gear.

I eventually spent years as a ‘rock star’ on the road in the UK, and after my last original band – ‘RUDE’ - finally broke up, after expenses, I got a Marshall 4×12 speaker cabinet, and a Shure 57 microphone in compensaton for my troubles as super-cool lead guitarist – for more than 300 gigs!.

The cash from the 300 or so gigs we did had gone to pay for weed, roadies, strings, petrol, replacement Ford transit vans, Ford transmissions, food, lodgings and bail.

In them days, anyone in Scotland with an inkling to go the whole hog and try the superstar rat race had to go south to ‘The Smoke’ or London, where the showcase gigs, the record labels and the music press lived. But parochial hicks from the sticks like us were way too modest and humble to embarass ourselves, and only a few ever made it down there, their ambition and talent overtaking their modesty.

And a few even made it. Well Annie Lennox did OK.

But when you’re a gigging musician – even though you know there’s a bigger picture, more money, fame and fortune, record deals, the whole nine yards – when you are in love with music and the gig, the lifestyle, it’s really secondary that success may or may not await you.

Realism and the next paying gig prevail, and a lifetime just playing well, practicing, surviving and hoping for the big break, any break, are part and parcel of being where you love to be best – on the road playing.

Sure, you write songs. You demo them. You even do the label tour hawking your songs. But if that fails, you know that you’ve got enough gigs ahead to pay for that sexy guitar you’re eyeing up! Or the new baby! (Or new hairstyle, if you’re a drummer!)

Good musos do it all day-to-day, day after day and maybe make a living. The better ones plot for the big time minute-by-minute, and generally go for it, ending up at least on some Caribbean cruise ship ‘reading’ standards night after night for three months at a time. It’s a kinda big time.

Or land a gig as a sideman with a star (Aberdeen’s Dave Flett and Manfred Mann’s Earth Band/Thin Lizzy) or write that hit song that puts them on the map, however briefly (Aberdonian’s The Shamman).

But if you ever get on stage and the band really nails it and you play that cover or that groove right on the money, there ain’t no better feeling!

Fact is, you leave your nerves behind you the minute you cross that line on to the stage and into the world of show business where nothing is more important than playing to the best of your ability to entertain the crowds.

After a pint or three of course.

You can impress them too with your skills or chops, but first and foremost – entertain them. You know you are working well when they tap their feet, dance, smile, sing along, cheer and applaud. The applaud – what my Aussie friend Michael Joseph Kenny calls “spray” – is the most precious commodity in showbusiness after talent (or a drummer who lives in the pocket).

And if the band is not smiling as they play, the spray when they stop will always do the trick – the exceptions being the drummer having a bad hair day or if the singer is pissed that he spilled beer on his new velvet trousers!

Rock on Grandad!

http://www.bandfortheday.com/bands/BILLY+THE+MOUNTAIN

First of all, let me get something straight. The actual notes and fretboards work the same for both, so if you start with either one, its always interchangeable, although the playing techniques might differ.

Most younger players would gravitate towards the electric guitar thanks to MTV and the “cool factor”. The acoustic guitar seems to have a more “folksy” image to it. Both sound very different, with the acoustic relying purely on natural acoustic principles to generate the sound, using the body of the guitar as an “amplifier”. The electric guitar on the other hand needs an electric amplifier to generate sound. There are of course hybrids, but that is not relevent in this article.

So, which is better for the beginner? I’ll cover 3 aspects below – cost, convenience and playability.

Cost

Both are about the same, you can get really expensive custom built electric of acoustic guitars. However, the electric can start to get more expensive simply because of the tempting options and accessories like amplifiers, pre-amps, effects pedals, volume pedals, etc. The acoustic on the other hand might be simpler to start with. It plays right out of the box!

Convenience

Again the acoustic wins as you can take it almost everywhere without worrying about a power socket. There are personal practice gadgets available for the electric guitar which allows you to practice with headphones.

Playability

My personal preference here is the electric guitar. I find it easier to play, with the strings being softer and thus less effort to play.

Either way, they both should be respected and used for what they are and any good guitarist should be adept at both. For the beginner, I would prefer the acoustic as it helps a lot in ear training as you get accustomed to the vibrations of the body making the tuning of the strings are easier to detect.

My final piece of advice is to don’t get too obsessed with your instrument while you’re learning but focus on the music instead. Once you start to get better at it you’ll know instinctively what sort of ‘ax’ you’ll need. I’ve met my fair share of musicians who are so into the gear but have not improved in their skill much and on the other hand, have heard some amazing, soul-stirring music from blues masters that have played the same guitar all their life!

Learn Guitar

In most cases, the “sunset” refers to the amount of commission paid to a manager over the two years after a split. Most music industry professionals agree that it can take two years for a band and their new management to put a new strategy in place. Therefore, a sunset clause typically grants the old manager full commission for six months following the split, stepped down by a third every six months until the former manager no longer can claim a commission.

Without a sunset clause, a band could split with their management and still find themselves liable for paying commissions of twenty percent or more for a period of up to seven years. Some unscrupulous managers sign deals with clients, only to perform no duties and sue for management commissions. On the other hand, an effective manager can use the sunset clause to recoup their investment of time and money when a client becomes successful enough to warrant signing on with a larger, more experienced management team. The sunset clause forces both parties to take their relationship seriously, while allowing for the possibility that a band and their manager might grow apart before the end of their traditional seven-year contract term.

Joe Taylor Jr. has written four books about the music business for aspiring musicians, including Music Management for the Rest of Us. You can learn more about professional music management contracts at: http://www.musicmanagementfortherestofus.com/contracts/

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Music Management

History of the Bass Guitar

The electric bass became popular in the 1950s and is used in musical styles as diverse as rock, metal, pop, punk rock, country, blues, and jazz. fusion. Most other forms of jazz music continue with the acoustic double bass as opposed to the electric bass. One of the defining instruments of the electric bass guitar is the Fender precision bass which quickly became the industry standard when introduced in the early 1950s and has been the model from which most contemporary bass designs have followed ever since. The reason for the electric basses popularity was it’s ease of transportation as well as the fact that it virtually never gave instrumental feed back through bass amplifiers.

The Bass Guitar in Modern Music and Bands

The electric bass has had many modern exponents that have raised the profile of the instrument to the same heights as the electric guitar. Jack Bruce of Cream, Sting of The Police and seminal jazz bassist Jaco Pastorius are a small selection of the many varied musicians that have both pushed the bass guitar into the limelight as well as taking the techniques and performance of the instrument to new heights.

The Evolution of the Bass Guitar

The techniques used to play the bass guitar continue to evolve with string popping (using the thumb on the strings), tapping (using pull of and hammer ons with the left hand whilst tapping with the right hand index finger on the desired string) and playing chordal passages have all come to the fore in recent decades. The technique of popping was the hallmark technique of bassist Mark King of Level 42 whilst Jaco Pastorius was at the forefront of harmonic devices behind the chordal background.

Bass guitar

There are a lot of people that dream about a job in music industry, but think that they could never find one. They may not believe in their talent or they may think that there are no jobs in music industry anywhere around them. This could be the farthest thing from the truth if they just do some research and look for possibilities for jobs. There is nothing wrong with internships and volunteering when it comes to getting our foot in the door and gaining experience in the music industry. In fact, there are hundreds of people that started out with unpaid jobs that are now making several thousands of dollars a year in the music industry doing a job that they love. If you are not willing to accept internships or volunteer work to gain experience, then you may want to look into a less competitive career than the music industry.

Secondly, for all the people that say there are no jobs in music industry where they live, the most likely have not done all of their research. Even if you live in a city of 500 people, you still may be able to find a job in music industry. Look to the towns and cities around you. You may have to drive 30 or 40 minutes to and from work, but you can find a job in music. Do your research in your city and the surrounding cities, especially in any big cities that are near you, to find any company or business that deals with music. This may include a recording studio, a record label, a music store, an entertainment company with disc jockeys, any bars that have live music, and music management companies. Be sure to narrow down your focus to what exactly you want to do in the music business and then pursue the companies. You may just be working the music industry before you know it.

music industry

Internet music promotion is a great way to generate extra streams of income for your business and in general. When it’s done incorrectly, it can become a devastating feeling because you put in so much hard work and nothing to show for it. When it’s done correctly, the feeling is the exact opposite and you actually put in less hard work and more smart work to make huge amounts of extra money online.

Websites
Great websites to start with include Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, YouTube, and similar websites to those. Uploading music and videos to websites such as these and many other similar sites will give you a great chance of being discovered. Although I’ve only mentioned a few websites where you can practice your Internet music promotion techniques, this is not where you should stop because the more sites you upload to, the more exposure you receive. Myxer is a good site for selling ring tones and Sound Station is a good site for selling your albums. These are just a few websites that I utilize, but it’s just the beginning and there’s thousands more out there.

Build a Website
If you are aware of anyone who knows how to create websites, call them now. Your Internet music promotion efforts shouldn’t be limited to just Myspace. A website is an essential asset to your music business because, it shows professionalism and it builds more trust in your customers than a social networking page would.

Website SEO (Search Engine Optimization)
Optimizing your webpages will cause them to show up in search engines over many other results. One way to optimize your pages are to create more relevant pages linking back to your target page. Another way would be to add hyperlinks to your page linking to other relevant sites. One last way to optimize them would be to add high search volume key phrases into your text content, preferably one phrase per 100 words but make sure not to go over 3 times every 100.

Recap
Start by creating a music page on a regular social networking site, in the meantime find someone who can help you build your own websites, and in the end optimize all of them. These are just a few brief internet music promotion techniques that aren’t too difficult to try for yourself.

Most people settle for a job and a boss after getting nowhere close to their music dreams, even knowing this information. Slow income, to no radio play, this doesn’t have to be you & should have never been them.

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