About Music Lessons

About Learning Grooves and Guitar Strums

2011-10-27T14:12:00.000-07:00

Here's a quick, yet important, note about practicing rhythms.

Rhythm patterns should be practiced to a steady pulse,
whether a drum machine or metronome.

A groove is a repetitive rhythm, most often for an accompaniment. Guitar strums can be random, but are usually repetitive: a groove. That's what provides support for the melody or solo.

A stable groove is predictable. It feels good and gives the main melody, or solo, a stable point to play/sing on top of.

This blog isn't about creating grooves; it's about how to practice them! (And about how to not practice them!)

"Popular" music is based on a steady pulse, so practice grooves to a steady pulse. Because of this fact, practicing a groove without a steady pulse can be a waste of time. More often then not, the rhythm ends up being uneven and shaky, so not fun to play or to listen to.

First you work out the technique of the groove, e.g., picking pattern or fingering pattern on piano or bass, then learn to play it in tempo. Groove-rhythms won't make musical sense unless you align them to a pulse. If your internal pulse is good, you don't always need a mechanical device as an aid. However, most beginning and intermediate players should always practice to a steady pulse.

So...

Rhythm patterns should be practiced to a steady pulse,
whether a drum machine or metronome.

If you're not already doing this, check it out and let me know how it goes!

Marty B.
Email

Related Articles
Guidelines for practicing a Musical Instrument

Practicing Music at the Right Speed

Glossary of Musical Terms

Buttwinick Musical Services Update ~ July 2011

2011-03-12T12:28:00.000-08:00

Greetings!

As 2011 roles along, activity is activated and production is purposeful!
I hope all is well with you, and here is an update from my zones of creation:

Composing

I just finished four mixes of original music with my engineer, Richard Robinson. The music covers rock-fusion and swing, along with a cool funk ballad and romantic Bolero. I wrote the Bolero and swing tune for a concert I put on a few years back, and the other two were from my catalog. These pieces will soon be at iTunes as well as other Internet music sites. They are posted at my music page so... take a listen! (There other music at this site, but you've probably heard those pieces already ;-)

Teaching

My student's are winning like crazy. (Sometimes ya have to brag...) My personalized curriculum continues to expand, and every lesson is really fun. Two songwriter students have finished tracks in major studios, while another just played the "Whiskey" on the famous Sunset Strip. A piano student went from focusing on reading to grooving and playing blues while an alto sax is being assaulted by another! You can see a list of current students here, success stories here, and more about what I do here.

Also, anyone you know who is bogged with their current musical studies or wants to start some enhancement yet doesn't know what, should click here. I'm a good trouble shooter/consultant and this page will tell you more about it.

Musicians' How-To Series

Book publishing continues to expand. We recently developed a new customer who purchased all 15 titles and is getting ready for his band consultations.

And what is this about? Read on...

"There is more to being a musician than fingering notes on an instrument. There are the subtleties of group interaction, musicianship, repertoire, the business side (if you are a professional), and many additional subjects.

The Musicians' How-To Series consists of short- to medium-length e-books about a variety of music-related topics. This series provides musicians and singers with supplemental information that for the most part isn't taught in schools and might or might not be learned on one's own or from a private instructor. Much of this information has never before been in print.They are designed to throw in your bag or instrument case, take to your gig, rehearsal or jam, and PUT TO USE!"

That's all folks!

Well, there's always more: gigging, new books, blogs, a regular rock-band-teaching gig I have, copywork, etc. But the above are the main points I wanted to tell you about.

So I did.

And thank you for reading this!

Let me know if there is anything I can help you with. OK?

Marty B.

================>
Marty Buttwinick
(818) 242-7551
http://buttwinickmusic.com
http://musicianshowtoseries.com

Chord Technique on Guitar and Bass

2011-02-24T11:05:00.000-08:00

Does it take you a long time to learn a new chord?

Do you want the secret to quickly learning new chord shapes?

Applying this write-up could dramatically speed your progress!

Contrary to common belief, fingering chords is a matter of control, not strength. While your first bar chords takes some strength development, control is what you need. And control is developed with slow and focused repetition.

Learning chords on a guitar or bass is simply a matter of muscle memory. According to a physical therapist student of mine, it can take up to 3,000 repetitions to establish the muscle memory of a specific motion. That’s a lot of repetitions! I’ve had students learn new chords in a shorter period of time as well, because they already knew many of them, or they had very coordinated hands. There is always a time variable, and nothing is absolute.

(I once had a beginning guitar student who learned every technique point perfectly the first time which was quite impressive. He was a slight-of-hand magician and could shuffle a deck of cards in each hand at the same time so his hand/finger dexterity was unbelievable. Wow!)

The following exercise is a technique for learning chords I’ve used for years that works like a charm. (If you are left-handed just reverse the instructions.)

1. Press and release on each chord.

(a) With the left hand, form the chord, then press and release the fingers onto the neck. Leave the fingers touching the string and only press the string down to the frets. You don’t have to press very hard as this is not developing strength: it’s developing control. (Though certain muscles will become stronger.)

(b) Once you are able to do this, let the fingers slightly come off the strings, staying in the exact chord position. Have the fingers remain fairly close to the strings, but slightly lift them off.

After each chord becomes “grooved in”:

2. Chord Changing. Change back and forth between a pair of chords, having all the fingers touchdown at the same time. It is common to anchor one finger in place then move the other fingers to their position. You might do this when playing, but for this exercise it is best to have them all land at the same time.

(a) Only use the left hand without any strumming. Slowly move from one chord to the next having all fingers land at the same time. If you are a beginner this can take weeks, so don’t get discouraged if it doesn’t happen right away. I’ve had some students learn a new chord in a few days whereas most take a few weeks to months.

(b) Repeat, only strum each chord once getting each note to ring out.

(c) When you are ready, strum a groove on the chords or play a song with them. If you are not ready for this just continue the above exercises until you are.

The major barrier to learning chords is trying to do the motions too fast! My article, Guidelines for Practicing a Musical Instrument, explains all the fine points about practicing. Applying these nine points should speed up your progress.

And if you think your hands are too small to play guitar, check out this video!!!!

Related articles:

The Famous F Chord on Guitar

Am I Too Old to Learn an Instrument?

Marty B.
(818) 242-7551
Email
http://buttwinickmusic.com
http://Personalized Music Lessons Facebook Page
http://Musicians’ How-To Series Facebook Page

The Secret to Walking Bass Lines

2010-12-30T09:36:00.000-08:00

A “Walking Bass Line” is a type of bass part playing a specific series of notes on the pulse of the song.

The primary functions of a walking bass line are to outline the chords while supporting the rhythm by playing the pulse of the music. There are many books on the musical specifics, and here is the “bottom line”:

A walking bass line needs to be:

1. Theoretically perfect

2. Musically appropriate

3. Artistically played

Theoretical perfection can start with arpeggios, expanded by adding consecutive scale tones then elaborated with chromatic passing tones. (All of these terms are defined in the glossary at buttwinickmusic.com.)

Musical appropriateness is determined by the style of music, i.e., Broadway, swing, jazz, blues, etc. And the artistic execution is determined by how the musician puts it all together according to his sense of pitch, rhythm and group dynamic.

Trying to be artistic or musically appropriate before having theoretical perfection is a waste of time simply because it can’t be done. Certain styles of music can be “faked” while other styles cannot. (Though I did have a student once who was theoretically illiterate and musical brilliant.)

Walking bass lines are a skill that needs to be developed and nurtured. They are a joy to play and listen to. Ray Brown is probably the God of this, and listening to him play will give you good examples of all three levels mentioned above.

Marty B.
Email
(818) 242-7551
http://buttwinickmusic.com

Guitar & Bass: Which Way is Up?

2010-12-29T10:22:00.000-08:00

Learning what “up or down the neck” means is one of the funniest things about learning beginning bass and guitar. This has perplexed and embarrassed more adult students then almost any other point! (Almost…)

Musically, the words “up” and “down” most often refer to pitch. “Pitch” is the highness or lowness of a note determined by how fast the string is vibrating. (More about pitch at the glossary at my website.)

An open guitar or bass string vibrates at a certain speed. When you press the string down to a fret, it shortens the string thereby making the string vibrate faster and the pitch higher. When you play notes going from the head of the instrument towards the sound hole, or pickups, the pitch’s are getting higher and is called going “up” the neck. Using a vertical guitar as an example, going up the neck is going down in gravity, and going down the neck is going up in gravity! So down is up and up is down!

It can take a while to get used to this when learning to play. Often enough I’ll say “move your finger down one fret” and the student moves it according to gravity instead of pitch, laughs then corrects the motion. This becomes rather humorous after the 20^th or 30^th time it happens. Some people get used to this after a few weeks, though most actually take a few months to stabilize this concept.

After all, we’ve been dealing with gravity longer than dealing with vibrating strings!

Marty B.

How to Put Practicing Time into Your Life

2010-05-17T17:11:00.000-07:00

Putting practicing time into life as an adult can be a challenge, even if you are well-motivated. Work, social life and family obligations can definitely take a priority. Some things are definitely more important than others, but if you want to improve your playing or writing you have to create time in which to accomplish these goals. Right? If this has been an issue, I have a very workable method to resolve this “problem” at my Musicians’ How-To Series website called “Organizing” that you should download and apply. (This info will assist you with scheduling and time management in anything you do: music, tennis, gardening, etc.)

Just short of that, here are some suggestions for establishing a workable practicing schedule:

Pinpoint exactly what you want to do. What do you want to learn, play, write, etc. (If you need help with this, email me and I’ll help you out.)
Establish what you are going to practice. Most of the time this takes having a good teacher to guide you on your musical path, though if you can do this yourself, go for it! WHAT you need to practice should be clear and well-organized. You should know WHY you are doing the stuff on your lesson and HOW to do everything. The “what,” “why” and “how” will help you align everything to your personal goals.
Establish a good practice space. Create a space, if you haven’t already, where you can work in the most distraction free area. It’s *your* space.
Set a schedule. You must set a regular time to practice and discover a workable routine. And here’s the challenge. Right?

And here are a few, possibly obvious, ideas:

If you have regular working hours, discover whether you practice the best before work or after work. Fit practice time somewhere between your other activities and make it a routine. Get this agreed with by any other family members or people you live with and work it out. Example: work, dinner, practice, family time. Example: Gym, work, dinner, practice, email. (I suggest practicing before hopping on the computer. We all know how this can suck up lot’s of time.) There are many examples. Find something that works.
If you are a creative type, I suggest getting your practicing in before creating whatever it is. When I’m composing a lot I need to practice first thing in the morning or it won’t get done. This holds true with most of my writer/composer students as well. One of my songwriter students was attempting to practice after his recording sessions in the evening without success. He started first thing in the morning and that schedule has been working just fine.

The point of all of this is that you simply need to discover what works for you, then do that. It could take a few weeks or longer to fall into a workable routine. It takes personal motivation and discipline which is why your lessons need to align with your personal goals: how much do you want to do this?

Then each time you achieve a personal success with your lessons and schedule it will get easier and easier.

Let me know how it goes!

Marty B.
Email
(818) 242-7551
http://buttwinickmusic.com

Music Lessons Payoff in the Real World

2010-05-02T18:11:00.000-07:00

Here's an example of applying private music lessons to life:

_____________________________

"This week I had a breakthrough in composing for my band.

"I just finished talking with my girlfriend, who is also a musician, over the phone and I had just started working on my exercises for the week given to me by Marty. Now not only do I have to thank my girlfriend for this because she has an amazing ability to inspire music writing in me, but while I was on a rhythm drill had this great idea for a song that I had been writing since October.

"Before this, I had small progress in the song and was about ready to put the song away for good and place the riffs already written into a new song. But doing the exercise helped open my mind and assisted in crumbling the wall to pieces that was my writer’s block. Ideas were flooding into my mind and I was just completing section after section. Before I knew it I had just written all of the guitar parts for this song in just 30 minutes, which added up to around 6 minutes of play time.

"Also, I decided to implement some different styles of music into the song along with rapidly changing notes, from whole notes to 16th notes, and incorporating variations encompassing heavy metal riffs to triad solos to clean chord progressions. I worked it so well to a point where the listener doesn’t lose interest in any part of the song!

"Another successful action that helped me achieve this was analyzing different songs with Marty and recognizing all of the changes taking place in the song such as allowing space and adding in heavier notes to accompany and grant emphasis to a simple melody. I had a huge win on this and feel like an even more causative guitarist and musician in my songwriting."

_____________________________

Very Well Done Alex!

I take a lot of care when I teach, and it's awesome when students directly apply what they learn to their life (as most of them do).

And if you are studying music, what's your goal? And are your studies aligned with it?

This applies to all levels of musicianship. As I am currently focusing on composing, my studies vary from when I was mainly working on increasing playing abilities. (Though most things cross-relate.)

Happy playing!

Marty B.
Email
(818) 242-7551
http://buttwinickmusic.com

Technique Similarities Between Different Instrument Families

2010-04-27T09:51:00.000-07:00

This article mainly addresses string and piano technique, though the principles apply to ALL instruments. (And to doing anything, actually!)
_______________
Whether reading music, playing from memory or by ear, you play music and want it to sound the way you want. Right? This holds true whether a beginning guitarist, jazz pianist or an advanced violinist playing Bach.

Well, without “good” technique that’s not going to happen. Though rhythmic ability and ear training level can bypass technique at times, your technique needs to accommodate what you are playing. The more intricate the music, the more “expert” the technique. I’ve seen prominent guitarists with “terrible” technique…, but it’s good enough to play what they play, so fine. It’s the music that counts. (Technique is important but can be over- or under-emphasized, as with anything else.)

The purpose of having “good” technique is threefold: (1) maximize finger dexterity, (2) maximize control over rhythm, volume and tone, and (3) prevent strain and body damage.

There are over 60 muscles, bones and tendons in each forearm, wrist and hand. (Yet alone how they connect to the other 600 or so muscles in the body!) Remember singing the “Skeleton Song” as a kid? (Also called “Dry Bones”.) “The finger bone’s connected to the hand bone, the hand bone’s connected to the arm bone…”

Well that’s what is going on. All the parts are connected, directly or indirectly. I had a piano student whose right foot would begin to rise when playing, from tension traveling down her arm, through her back and down into the legs. And if you watch a beginner practicing something difficult you might see his or her mouth begin to tighten up: that’s physical tension. (You can read more about this at my blog post, “Physical Tension Indicators”.)

The main purpose of practicing is to gain control over what you are playing. Sure, you need to learn the music itself, i.e., play the right notes, learn the songs, etc., but you need to control your hands and body to play anything at all. Hence technique.

Prior to gaining control, it’s common to use force to make the body do what you want. The more force you use the more tension you create. As the tension builds, you actually lose control and the ability to play well. And that’s no fun.

_______________

As these physical attributes are common to playing any instrument, so are the principles governing good technique.

Weight and Gravity
An “arm” probably weighs about five to ten pounds, depending on body size. Combine that weight with gravity, and… how hard do you need to squeeze a guitar neck in order to play a note? How much force is needed to press a little string down to the neck? Practically none at all. By positioning your body correctly you can let your arm weight and gravity do all the work. (Though you have to slightly “squeeze” bar chords on an acoustic guitar most of the time.) I sprained my left thumb a few weeks ago and in order to get through a number of bass gigs needed to let my left arm really hang on the neck in order to play—sometimes without using my thumb at all: weight and gravity. (And of course there are shredding guitar techniques where the sound is accomplished by squeezing and using tension—but those are specific techniques, rather than an overall approach.)

With piano, you use the weight of your hands, arms, upper torso and full body to press down the keys. (The piano is not just played with the fingers!) You need to drill each connecting part in order to use body weight and gravity to do the work. However, if you are a singer learning piano as a reference instrument, how good does it have to be? And I saw an interview with Chick Corea talking about his piano technique. He mentioned that it was fine for playing jazz (he is a master!), but when he performed a Mozart Piano Concerto he needed to refine it in order to smoothly play the passages.

Your technique needs to be as good as the music demands.

Bowed instruments get a little tricky. You need to keep your arm weight (gravity) consistent while pulling/pushing the bow evenly from one end to the other while possibly holding your arm up and the same time! Talk about skill! (Bowing technique has many similarities to breath control on a wind instrument, by the way.)

And drums, how can your fingers be relaxed if your hands and arms are tight? (My friend, Tom Mendola, has some awesome drum technique info at his site.)

_______________

My favorite, anonymous quote is “Play the music, not the instrument.”

This is largely accomplished by having your technique match what you are playing.

Whether you pluck, pick, hit, press or blow, technique simply needs to accommodate the music you are playing. No more and no less.

Marty B.
Email
(818) 242-7551
http://buttwinickmusic.com

Technical or Musical?

2010-04-21T22:01:00.000-07:00

One of my singer/songwriter students is currently working on creating different kinds of melodies over chord progressions using different scale forms.

He’s a singer/lyricist/recording engineer, who is already proficient with songwriting—from a pure lyrics, feeling and personal expression point of view, which is great. However, to take it to the next level, he is expanding his writing with additional musical training: ear training balanced with theory to stabilize what he is doing, applying this to writing and singing, along with lots of piano application.

An important point we went over today, was taking each lesson step from the technical to the musical, both on the piano and with the ears while singing. The first priorities are understanding what things are in relation to the actual sounds and doing everything on both piano and voice.

The next, and most important, step is: let’s create melodies without any attention on mechanics or theory. Have the fingers express what is felt, heard and sung, rather then singing what the fingers are playing (as that’s backwards). And singing new melodies based on what is being learned. The step is finished when the musical application is comfortable: pure create.

That’s where the fun is, that’s where the real music is, that’s where the emotion is. Write, play and sing what you conceive, what you hear and what you feel: say what you want to say without any barriers.

Pure communication.

Pure create.

Pure music!

And I have said what I wanted to say!

Marty B.
Email
(818) 242-7551
http://buttwinickmusic.com

The Famous F Chord on Guitar

2010-04-20T09:39:00.000-07:00

One of my beginning guitar students is working on her “F Chord" and it prompted me to make a few comments about this. (I’m also piloting some note-reading materials on one of my more advanced students. We’re doing a study of dynamics at the moment. Great fun!)

I’ve spoken to a number of people about this dreaded F Chord. Many of them quit playing guitar at an early age because of this chord, though some learned to play it without much difficulty.

The F Chord is one of the more difficult chords for a beginner to learn, UNLESS it is approached gradually in many “bite-sized” chunks. I have about five or six steps that lead up to the full chord. Most of the time, without these set-up steps it’s almost impossible to learn, or minimally entail a lot of unneeded grief and finger/wrist straining.

So, I just wanted to point this out: it can take from four to eight weeks to learn a “full” F Chord on the guitar. Some learn it faster and some take longer—however it goes.

But what I want you to realize, is that it can take some time and this is normal. If it doesn’t come to you in a few days or weeks it does not mean you are unable, a klutz or not meant to be a guitar player. Fingers bend in different ways, some joints are loser then others and it just means that it can be a challenge.

Please forward this to any of your friends who have suffered with the F Chord! It will make them feel better.

__________

This is very, very rare, but on the other side of the coin: I had a beginning guitar student years ago who played everything perfectly the first time. His left hand did all my exercises and chords without any effort and it blew me away. (It was slow, but perfect.)

He looked at me and said, “Are you surprised I can do these things right away?” I said, “As a matter of fact I am.” He said, “You forget what I do for a living.” “You’re a magician,” I replied. He said, “You’re right. But what kind?” “I don’t know,” I replied.

The student got a smug little grin on his face and replied, “Sleight of hand!”

This guy could shuffle a deck of cards in each hand at the same time and do all of that amazing magician stuff. Talk about finger dexterity!

Since very few of us are sleight of hand magicians… the F Chord can take time so don’t worry about it. Just make sure you are approaching it with care.

Marty B.
Email
(818) 242-7551
http://buttwinickmusic.com

Metal Analysis

2010-04-13T20:38:00.000-07:00

One of my guitar / songwriter students is into metal, esp. Avenged Sevenfold. My roots are mainly in classical, hard rock, funk, “world” and avant-garde jazz, but I have a appreciation for metal.

To apply the music he’s been studying, i.e., scales, chords, harmony, soloing, etc., he has been writing material for his band (and his girlfriend!).

To put it all together we’ve been dissecting his favorite group, Avenged. As a point of interest, here are some common compositional elements Avenged shares with many classical greats, such as Beethoven, Mozart, Wagner, and many others.

Main theme (motif)
Theme and variation
Dynamics through volume (loud, soft, in between)
Dynamics through orchestration (shred – acoustic guitar: full orchestra – partial orchestra
Tempo changes
Rhythmic variation: simple, complex, spacious, dense
Timbre (tone) variations through instrument attack or instrument changes
Tonal center changes from relative major to relative minor and vice versa
Different phrase lengths to increase contrast between sections
Pitch contrast: smooth or extreme variations between high and low pitches
Smooth sectional transitions: some change letting the listener know that something new is coming. This is accomplished in many ways, i.e., different chords, different rhythm, varied melody or accompaniment, space where there wasn’t any, sounds where there was space, no vocal where there was a vocal, etc

I guess these compositional elements are rather universal!

Marty B.
Email
(818) 242-7551
http://buttwinickmusic.com

Glossary of Musical Terms

2010-04-12T11:03:00.000-07:00

I recently added a cool "Glossary of Musical Terms" at one of my websites. You should check it out!

This is an expanding list of musical and music-business related terms. It has brief, yet concise definitions of important words. Not everything will be here as we already have dictionaries for those terms.

There are often many definitions for a word and I will mainly list a musically-oriented, simple definition or two for each one. Sometimes simple is good! (As time goes on I will be adding more involved and more in-depth definitions that you can access by clicking on words that are hyper-linked.)

The main focus is musical terms that are commonly mis-understood, or should be known by anyone playing or studying music.

I just started this project in March or 2010 and it will be expanding over the next few months. If there is anything you need a definition for let me know.

These entries are all from my teaching materials. In a music lesson, everything in presented in context to what a student is learning. Since this is just a list of terms, you might want to read the “Preface” sections that accompany these terms in one of my lessons and it could give you a bigger picture of what this is all about. Just a suggestion.

If there are any terms you need to have cleared up, let me know and I'll see what I can do. OK?

Marty B.
(818) 242-7551
Buttwinick Musical Services

Two very different lessons

2010-04-11T18:12:00.000-07:00

As people's personal goals vary, so do lesson assignments. Two of the lessons I delivered today illustrates this point.

(1) New piano student.

He called me a few days ago and we talked about what he wanted to do. After talking for a bit I knew I could be a good instructor for him and he felt the same way, so we scheduled a lesson.

When he arrived today, he brought his Mac, played some recent tracks he wrote and told me what his compositional difficulties were that he wanted to handle. By listening to his "products" I knew exactly what he needed to do.

I put him on the piano and assessed what he knew and could do (or not). After some more inquiry I found what he didn't know, but needed to, and designed his program from there.

His lesson entailed some piano technique, that we spent at least 40 min on, a tiny bit of music theory clean-up, (clearing up some confusions and unknowns), then some application steps with a few musical basics.

That was enough for the first week. Not too much and not too little.

(2) Upright bass student

He came wanting to know what he needed to do to take his playing to the next level. He already plays electric bass semi-professionally, and wants to start doubling on the upright. OK.

We talked over the immediate goals and went to work. I checked out his basic technique, discovered that he had already tried one of the fundamental upright bass books, "Simandl," and off we went.

I started him with basic technique for plucking and positioning the instrument. It's a big thing and you have to get the balance and height of the instrument just right. Then we worked on left-hand position and right-hand position, then on the intonation exercises. Intonation is crucial on a fretless instrument.

I gave him a bunch of "standard" technique exercises, that I had earned from my many upright teachers, then assigned a number of pages in his Simandl Reading book to drill before his next lesson.

No theory to clear up, no composition stuff to delve into: just a "straight ahead" upright lesson.

Two very different lessons! This is why I never get bored teaching. Everyone is different.

Marty B.
Email
(818) 242-7551
http://buttwinickmusic.com

My last lesson of the day

2010-04-10T19:04:00.000-07:00

I'm off to a gig, but wanted to drop in a quick note about my last guitar student today. (It was a full day: two bass students, three guitar student and one piano student.)

This beginning student was having difficulty singing a song while strumming the guitar. Hello? Beginning student? Not fluid with independence between singing and playing?

This is very, very common. She had been coached by a few people on how to accomplish this with little success. She was coached by non-professional music instructors so the advice was well intended, yet not very effective. (No offense guys.)

At the end of her "formal lesson," we worked on the song. I broke down all the steps, wrote some things out on paper for her to follow and drilled her on HOW to practice.

She started feeling bad about not being able to "naturally" do this. She left feeling great about being able to get this down in a very short period of time; a week or two.

Singing and playing at the same time is NOT a skill that is inherent to everyone.

It IS a skill that is readily learned.

Marty B.

New Slant To This Blog

2010-04-10T18:54:00.000-07:00

Hello!

I'm turning this blog into an ongoing record of the private music lessons I deliver. Each lesson is a little different, while the mechanics of music and my teaching method stay the same.

Feel free to contribute your experiences!

Marty B.

(818) 242-7551

Starting Your First Band

2009-04-28T17:42:00.000-07:00

Starting a band can be a lot of fun. Since you could be starting an original band or a cover band, I’ll discuss the points that relate to both. Use the information that relates to your scene. Basically, you get a bunch of musicians together with similar goals, get your material together and go at it; you rehearse and do what you’re going to do. Sometimes it’s just that simple. Putting a band together to jam every week can be pretty straight-ahead. If you have goals that involve getting paid gigs or live in small town with a scarcity of musician’s, things can be little more involved.

Deciding on Material

The material your group is going to do is determined by what kind of music you want to play, modified by the types of gigs you want. If you’re doing original music, well... there’s your material. You write it yourself or as a group effort. If you’re getting together just to jam and have fun, your material could change every week. If the goal is getting paid work, you need to play the kind of music people want to hear—that is the main thing that creates a demand for your group. If this is the goal, you need to decide what style(s) of music to play that you can make money with. Getting gigs is fully covered in other articles but keep this in mind: Immediate income means cover music. Unless specifically going to an original music club or restaurant to see new artists, people like to hear music they are familiar with and that’s what they will pay for. (Original artists make money by selling their CD’s at gigs but that’s a topic of different article.)

Getting Band Members

Elements that bring people together or hold something already established together are: friendship, future potential, similar goals,and money. In the long run the main thing that keeps a working-group going is money. When you make a living playing music, either you’re eating and paying the bills or not.

You generally find band mates from:

Friends
Friends of friends
Students of your instructor (if you have a teacher)
Musician contact agencies
Magazine ads
Newspaper ads
Music school referrals
Bulletin boards at music stores, rehearsal studios and the like.

The idea is to get the word out that you either want to start a group or get in an already established one. It can be more hassle-free to get in an established band than to start one and throughout time you might do both.

To get in an already established group you promote a lot, find one who needs what you do, audition, then get the gig or not. If it doesn’t work out you find other bands to checkout and keep looking till you find something.

To find musicians or a band to join:

1. Contact all of your friends and let them know what you’re looking for. Inquire about musicians, gigs and auditions.

2. Follow up what happens and ask them if they know of anyone else you can call. Always ask for referrals. If appropriate ask them to spread the word around for you.

3. Register with any musicians’ contact agencies in your area and stay on top of your phone calls and any Internet contacts. (Gig listings can come and go pretty fast!) [musicianscontact.com and craigslist.com are good places to start.]

4. Look in your local papers and magazines for musicians wanted, bands wanted, etc.

5. Place ads in the papers yourself, e.g., “Group seeks guitarist to start working rock band. Call Joe at (555) 555–5555” or “Drummer seeks musicians to jam with,” etc. If you’ve been around for a while, place a more serious ad like, “Experienced keyboardist looking for seasoned players to start a group—have demo and résumé.” Find listings like these to see how they are worded and write something appropriate for your scene.

6. Call any music and performing arts schools to see if you can get any referrals.

7. Check out all the music stores and any place that has a bulletin board. Leave an ad stating what you’re looking for as well as seeing what’s already there.

8. Go to clubs, meet musicians, give out business cards and sit in if possible. Go to as many jam sessions as you can.

By repeating steps 1 – 8 above it’s just a matter of time before you start finding people.

Get together with whatever number of musicians you have as they come on board. Start and establish the rehearsal routine; don’t wait until you have the full band. If there are only two of you, fine. Get on with it. If you wait it might never happen. Also, try and get the new guys to find new band members.

Sometimes it happens quickly and you have your group. Sometimes it takes a long time. It can be easy to get discouraged which is normal. The key to this is to just never stop. You plug along until you have all the needed people. If someone quits or doesn’t work out, fine—replace him. (If you have a cover band it’s easier to get stable musicians when you have paying gigs.)

Have a “musicians” phone book to keep track of the phone numbers of people you meet. Categorize it by instrument and keep little notes about each person to refer to in the future when needed. Take note of things like: “sounds good—needs a paying gig now”; “is interested but too busy—check back in a month”; “don’t call back—the guy’s a jerk”. The more people you know the better. This phone book is the beginning of your musician resources for potential new players, subs and people to call when you’re looking for work or a new playing situation.

Qualifying Prospects

Once you start meeting interested people you have to establish some basic goals and logistics. Don’t start up with just anybody who comes along. You could be setting yourself up for a bad time with hassles and problems galore if things don’t click and you’re already involved—No fun. Now is the time for honest, straightforward and clear communication.

Before making any commitments or agreements, establish the following as best as you can:

1. What kind of music do they like?

Are your tastes similar? Are the styles of music the same or at least compatible? Some musicians have very strong likes and dislikes, whereas some just want to play anything.

2. How serious are they?

Find out if they really want to do this. If you can’t tell by a phone call or two, get together, hang out and check it out. Very often people who are just starting out don’t know how serious they are and need to get involved in order to find out. In many cases they are serious about their career but haven’t really accepted the “challenge” of it yet—fine. In this type of situation a person shouldn’t casually be canned but given a chance to try—up to the point of wasting your time—then it’s time to move on.

If you want to work and you hook up with a musician where, “Sure, uh..., a gig sounds, like, uuh—fun, and...if I’m not tooooo busy with...” is the attitude, you’ll probably waste your time. The band member’s intensity to do the project should be similar enough so everyone can actually make it to rehearsals and gigs, and have fun by playing good music.

3. How many times a week do they want to work?

If you’re starting a working band, find out what the people are looking for. If you want to work five nights a week, let that be known. Don’t join up with someone who only wants to work once or twice a week. This is an obvious point, though easily overlooked.

4. How many times a week can they rehearse?

How often would you like to get together and play? Make sure that others have a similar desire. When it comes to moneymaking bands you need to rehearse a lot unless you’re already established in some zone of gigging. Getting together once a week to jam can be a lighter commitment.

If you’re ready to get the band happening, make sure the new guys are too. Someone chronically missing two out of three rehearsals to go out of town or to attend Aunt Suzy’s dog show will hang the band up and slow you down. Business is business. If you can work rehearsal schedules around a person’s life excursions, fine. If not, replace them—don’t mess around.

5. Where do people live?

If someone lives too far away it might or might not be workable. Living locations, work locations and rehearsal locations all come into play. Seven o’clock rehearsals won’t work if the drummer lives forty miles away and doesn’t leave until 6:30, unless he works close to the rehearsal studio and is coming from there. If distance is involved, you need to see if people are willing to do what it takes to arrive on time. You have to arrive at rehearsals to do them.

6. Do they have their own equipment and a car?

If you are a teen starting a band, having the folks give you rides to rehearsals is great. Mine did, as well as many of my student’s. But for an adult, someone not having a car could mean you being their chauffeur. Think about it: Wake up at 7:00 am, go to work, work all day, then drive twenty miles to get a band member, rehearse, drive him/her home, go to bed at 2:00, then do it again tomorrow, and next week and next month. If you don’t mind, fine. But people need to have their own transportation. If someone’s car is being fixed and they need a ride or is between cars, no big deal. But if someone doesn’t have transportation and isn’t planning on getting any—“Well man, ah, ya know...uh, Yeah! I can get a ride from my cousin on Tuesdays...and maybe...”— FORGET IT! This person will leech you to unhappiness. Guaranteed.

Make sure they have enough gear to cover what you want to do. A small practice amp usually won’t cut it on stage so equipment arrangements need to be made. Make sure the people already have the gear they need, or are at least willing to arrange it. (I realize this might be obvious, but to a new person it often isn’t. When starting out in a new field a person usually doesn’t have enough experience to observe the big picture and put things in the correct perspective.)

7. Are there any major personality clashes?

You might not know this until you’ve been around each other for a while: you don’t necessarily need to like someone to gig with them. But why make the whole thing a drag? If you don’t get along—forget it.

8. How honest and reliable do they seem?

If a guy never returns phone calls, chronically shows up late, doesn’t do what he said he’d do, and cancels rehearsals at the last minute—forget him. Do it or don’t do it. Occasional mishaps are normal, but the above are signs of a low responsibility level so don’t depend on him.

So:

What kind of music do they like?
How serious are they?
How many times a week do they want to work?
How many times a week can they rehearse?
Where do they live?
Do they have their own equipment and a car?
Are there any major personality clashes?
How honest and reliable do they seem?

An individual looking for a band needs to know the following information:

What kind of music do they play? Is it what you want to do or will it at least be okay if the gigs pay enough? (If you looking for paid work.)
Do they have management, self-book, or haven’t they got that far yet? If you want to work right away, the band needs to have this together already. However, if you’re not in a hurry it might not matter.
How many times a week do they rehearse, and where are they? You have to be able to fit your schedule into theirs.
How many times a week do they want to gig, or are they already gigging?
How much do the gigs pay? Is it enough?
Do there seem to be any major personality clashes?
Do they seem straightforward or flaky? Do they return your calls when they say they will? Do they sound stoned or out of it?
What kind of equipment is required: do you have what’s needed?

Once you find your musicians or band and make sure you’re headed in the right direction, it’s time to start making it happen.

Having a Band Leader

If you’re starting a “serious” band, someone needs to make sure the band as an organization runs smoothly. Someone needs to run rehearsals, organize what’s happening, handle any problems or squabbles, and ensure that the things that need doing actually get done. (Even if it’s a group effort there should be at least one person who has a final say or influence.)

If you’re playing just for the fun of it you might not need a band leader. When I was in a band at the ripe age of twelve, we didn’t have a band leader and we didn’t need one. We had some school gigs, church and temple gigs, and rehearsed every weekend and... Who needed a band leader? Well, my father drove us around, made phone calls and fixed the drums when they broke. So my father, with his infinite support and goodness, was essentially the band leader. My point being that someone will end up being the band leader sooner or later so you might as well do it now.

The band leader has two main zones of responsibility: Internal coordination and external coordination. Internal coordination mainly consists of establishing the band, running it, and keeping it alive. External coordination mainly consists of being in communication with clients, club owners, management and anyone the band has dealings with. Without one person in charge, things can get very confusing.

In every successful band I’ve played in there was ONE person in charge. Even if he didn’t do everything himself, he made sure that everything needing to be done was done. I had a partner in a main band years ago and it was very confusing until we had our personal zones of responsibilities so clearly defined that we acted as one. (One of us was mainly in charge of internal communications and the other in charge of external communications.)

Now, having one band leader doesn’t mean that no one has a say. When you put a band together, things are generally mutually discussed, worked out with specific agreements and decisions made. The band leader makes sure that all activities are coordinated so your plans are actually implemented. This person essentially governs any organization’s prosperity. This is the boss, the manager, the executive director—whatever the title and capacity. Someone has to run the show or the show might have a very short run if it opens at all. On the other hand, an individual band leader booking gigs and using sidemen to play them is a different ball game—it’s his show and you do what’s needed or you don’t work/play for him anymore.

The band leader’s basic responsibilities are to:

Make sure rehearsals are efficient and the band members are in good communication with each other.
Ensure the group has work or the right playing situations.
Run the gigs.
Handle external communications with clients, management agencies and potential new band personnel.
Make sure everything stays on track and whatever needs doing gets done—even if he doesn’t do it himself.

The key to being a leader is responsibility. You must be willing to be responsible, be capable of responsibility, and actually BE responsible by doing the necessary actions to accomplish what is needed. Part of this picture entails ensuring that others are being fully responsible for what they should be doing. Each band member could be in charge of different things but one person should monitor all the activities of the group.

Starting a group deals with people’s attitudes as well as the music-side of things. If there are difficulties, aligning personal attitudes and viewpoints with the group’s goals is the best way to keep everyone on track. Setting band policy is the way to achieve that. Policy is the guideline that keeps the show on the road and enables people to know where they stand in relationship to the whole. All successful businesses, families and groups of any kind have leaders because they need to. When individuals just do whatever they want in a group setting, very little gets accomplished unless the activities are coordinated together.

When many people undertake a mutual activity, different personal life elements come into play that could easily clash. Part of starting any group is having a clearly delineated game plan plus some policy to help achieve the objectives.

Game Plan and Policy

The game plan should include: (1) What kind of music you want to play and for what purpose, e.g., work? fun? a CD? (2) If gig oriented, your market—where do you want to gig and what will it take to get there, (3) How soon do you want to be gigging or playing out? (4) How do you plan on getting the work, and (5) Any other logistics needed to get you going. The more organized you are the better. But at the start, as long as you have an idea of what’s going on you can brainstorm and organize as you go.

Band policies should simply be the governing factors that enable you to move ahead efficiently; align factors to remedy disputes, and to create a fun and productive atmosphere to work in. Workable policies are those that promote useful production. Unworkable policies are those that serve no real purpose and are randomly created. Though I’ll give you policy examples, YOU are the one who needs to decide what’s relevant or not—it’s your band. The following policies might be perfect for you, or too strict. Your group might only need a handful of policies or you might need thirty—whatever it takes.

Let’s say you have a group goal of “Let’s get working right away.”

Examples of workable policies:

When a rehearsal is set for a specific time, that’s when we start playing—not arriving. If you want to chat, get there early. A 7:30 rehearsal means a 7:30 downbeat (start of playing). If it takes thirty minutes to set up, get there at 7:00. Arriving late either cuts back our time, e.g. 8:00–10:30 versus 7:30–10:30, or makes us go later than planned.
Never cancel or no-show to a rehearsal unless you are extremely ill, physically damaged or have some kind of major emergency. Not rehearsing equals not being prepared equals not getting our act together equals not working and sounding bad.
Unless impossible, prepare whatever you need to prepare before the rehearsal. If you need to have tapes, charts or food, get it beforehand and bring it with you. Taking extended breaks to do chip and coke runs can waste time.

Examples of possible unworkable policies:

No short pants at rehearsals—for no apparent reason.
No eating at rehearsals—for no apparent reason.
Arrival time is always one hour before to set up—even if it only takes ten minutes to do so because the gear is already set up.

Now, the above three policies could be valid if there were good reasons like: No short pants because the photographer is coming, or no eating because you guys always leave a mess and my wife/mom/girlfriend gets pissed off.

That’s the idea. Be realistic, set whatever policies you need and understand why they exist. It could be as simple as agreeing to get together every Tuesday night at 7:00.

Having a Band

When you run through all of the above-mentioned steps you should have your band. Have fun and do what you gotta do. Be true to your personal goals and don’t let anyone persuade you to do what you truly don’t want to.

Getting Gigs

Whether an ensemble books itself or uses management, the idea is for someone to be fully responsible for CONTACTING PEOPLE and booking the gigs.

Large management agencies have their staff make continual phone calls and run ads in magazines and phone books. Self-booking bands can send out weekly mail, call clubs or hand out flyers. Individual musicians call people for gigs until their appointment books are full. It’s just a matter of contacting enough of the right people or already being in a social scene that provides enough contacts to keep you gigging. (By the way, a manager is a person who personally handles the band. He manages it. He’ll work with your image, sound, plans and material. He gets gigs through a booking agent or personal contact and assists you along the way with your career. The booking agent gets the gigs. Different states have various laws about what these two people can and cannot do or charge. Though things vary, casual bands, club bands and various entertainers deal directly with booking agencies, whereas individual artists, original bands and groups crossing into original music will have personal managers. (A “Casual Band” is a group that specializes in one-night gigs such as private parties and weddings.) Some management firms consist of both personal managers and booking agents whereas some specialize in one or the other.)

Six main ways a group procures work are:

The group has management or contacts booking agencies which get the gigs.
Someone in the band is hooked up with some social activity (school, church, temple, club, chamber of commerce, etc.) and that group uses the band for gigs.
Someone in the band makes calls and sets up auditions, mails out press kits and books them.
The group sets up a promotion machine and sends out whatever amount of weekly mail it takes to book enough gigs and sometimes run ads in newspapers, trade mags, and anywhere it’s possible.
Word-of-mouth.

Someone in the group knows someone who hires them.
An agent books a gig, the group does the gig and gets a rave review back to the agent from the client. The agent gains trust and books the group again.
Someone at a party heard the group, liked them a lot, took a business card and used them for their next party.
Someone at a party liked the group and referred them to friends.
The group was doing a regular club, hotel or restaurant gig and someone liked them and hired them for a private party.

Internet promotion. In this 21^st Century the Internet provides a tremendous opportunity for promoting you group. Some places to investigate are:

a) http://www.myspace.com

b) http://wwwgigmasters.net

c) http://www.partypop.com

d) General Internet searching for agencies who book the type of music you play.

Everything is relative to what you want to do. As you adventure into the band-starting game, keep in mind that other people have their ideas about things too. Someone having their own ideas doesn’t necessarily make them right or wrong—you could just have a different take on what’s happening. Different experience levels enter the equation as well. Maybe you’re starting your first band and one of the musicians has done it before—fine. Let him/her contribute what they know and maybe have that person be the band leader. If they’re too pushy and won’t let things go in the direction you want to go—handle them or replace them.

Keep it simple, have fun, and go for your dreams.

* * *

Marty Buttwinick
Email
Buttwinick Teaching Studio
Musician – MySpace

Musicians: How to Deal with Bad Attitudes

2009-04-27T15:40:00.000-07:00

Human beings can be pretty complex life units. Some people are easy to work with while others seem impossible.

In the professional work-a-day world of a freelance musician there are fewer attitude difficulties than when guys are just starting out. Why? Well, when you have attitude problems that make getting the show on the road difficult you get fired. Period. When rehearsals and gigs need to occur, there’s no room for wasting time on people with attitude problems or lack of commitment when commitment is needed. One of the hallmarks of a professional is not letting his emotions, personal feelings or hobbies get in the way of productivity. The only people who get away with problem-attitudes are guys that are so great at what they do that they are in great demand. Even so, they don’t last long!

A bottom line observation is—just as you have things you want to do, and ways you think they should be done—so do others. Conflict simply arises when person “A” and person “B” see things differently. Though some people are crazed beyond sanity, and some people act evilly towards those around them, they are still just trying to do what they think is best. Keeping that as an underlying viewpoint can be quite helpful.

When dealing with sane people, working out conflicts is feasible because you can discuss different points of view and come to some kind of conclusion about whatever you’re dealing with. (This doesn’t mean that if you can’t come to a conclusion that one of you is not sane though...) People want to be right and live well, but sometimes their idea of right is either very different than yours, or enforced on you.

When faced with conflict, communication is the only remedy. When you have enough understanding of another person’s viewpoints, and they have enough understanding of your viewpoints—resolution is possible if the goals involved are aligned enough. In order to accomplish this, you have to respect people enough to let them have their say, and inquire about things that you don’t understand, while really listening to what you hear. It’s amazing how different another person’s viewpoint can be.

Working things out with people who have heavy attitudes can be a different story, and depending upon how good you are in human behavior will have an easy or rough time at it. The same principle of communication being key applies, but you need to have more patience with someone if they: reject what you say; don’t seem to be willing to get the point; argue needlessly; or portray a myriad of unworkable attitudes. You need to deal with them at a reality level they’ll get—and talk it out until some conclusion is arrived at.

A workable method of dealing with negative attitudes is to align the conversation to the goal of the activity, e.g., what’s going to get us the most work, what’s going to make rehearsals more efficient, etc. Regardless of the attitude, the one common reality you’ll have is that you are both currently in the same location, the room for example, and probably in the same band with some kind of mutual goal. That’s the alignment factor and your safety net because you at least have these things in common.

Something to realize is that some people will never change their attitude unless they go through some intense emotional and/or spiritual changes that undercut their entire mental attitude of existence. If you try to change them you’re not only wasting everybody’s time, but are headed for disaster and endless difficulty. A rock is a rock. But, if you can get some agreement on where you are going and what are you doing to get there, sometimes you can work things out. You don’t have to be friends with the people you work with. When you’re playing good music the aesthetic quality of the creation of art can transcend the entire human factor, though it is best to like the people you play with.

If you can’t work things out, there are only three things you can do:

1. Live with it.
2. Fire the person.
3. Quit the band yourself.

LIVING WITH IT

I was in a nine-piece show band at an amusement park many years ago, and the drummer was impossible to work with. He’d throw trash on the floor wherever he was, constantly made fun of people, rushed like mad when soloing and accused the rest of the band of dragging. He was a real pain. Everyone in the band, especially the band leader, had called him aside at one point or another and tried to work it out. We wanted him to stop doing these things because it bugged us, but the drummer was always right. He always had a reason and a “valid” excuse for every point mentioned and wasn’t going to see anybody else's viewpoint for nothin’. Socially he was a pretty pleasant guy—but his attitude about life was pretty hostile. If it was my band I would have fired him. But, I liked the gig so just never talked to him about anything more than the weather, and never hung out with him unless I had to.

Because of the way I acted, I had a very cool gig for four years. On the other hand the trombonist was constantly getting into squabbles and arguments with the guy because he was trying to get him to change—which was a losing battle.

The person with the highest awareness of the situation inherits being responsible for it one way or the other. It’s as much your responsibility to work with an unruly person as it is for him to work with you. Given that we don’t need to agree on everything to gig with each other, many situations can be avoided by not actively aggravating the situation ourselves.

FIRING SOMEONE

A keyboardist in my main casual band once would not get with the program. He was a great player, but during dinner sets would always get too loud and “outside” for the audiences we were playing for. We extensively discussed how it was bad for business in that it annoyed people, displeased the clients and could hurt our referrals. He was a seasoned player and knew all of these things, but his heart was no longer in this type of work and he just stopped caring about anything but doing what he wanted. So I fired him—and he was a friend of mine.

Business is business.

Before firing somebody it’s good to give a guy a chance unless he’s totally impossible, then I suggest the following sequence:

Talk with the person and try to work it out.
If the problem persists, talk with the person again and be very specific—get down to all the fine points. Discuss what is being said or done, and what the results of his/her actions are, and the whole thing. Talk about the who, what, where, why and becauses of it all.
If the problem still persists give him one last warning.
If the problem still persists fire him.

Realize too, that people can have bad days and go through tough times. Nothing justifies being unprofessional, but unless something is chronic (always there), helping someone work something out is a very cool thing to do. It’s good to help the ones we’re associated with, and after all—we’re all in this together. The better each of us does, the better everybody around us will do and vice versa.

QUITTING THE BAND

Sometimes you just have to quit the band, or not join it to begin with. If you’re not gigging and are mostly playing for fun and experience, don’t do it if it’s not fun!

If you don’t need the money, or feel confident about getting another gig as soon as you need to—quit, and be done with the hassle. But, if you need the money, and don’t have the confidence that you’ll get another gig by the time your money runs out you might want to stick it out.

Something to keep in mind is your own mental disposition toward things. If you are going to quit a band because certain people introvert you and make you feel bad—well, maybe anyone can introvert you and make you feel bad because that’s the way you are. Some people take offense easily, for example, and are quickly bothered by things said to them, like constructive criticism or not accepting an idea you had, or whatever.

All I’m saying here is to also inspect yourself as well as others. We are responsible for the things that happen in our lives and earth is a two-way street whether we like it or not. All too often people point fingers toward someone else before first seeing what’s going on with themselves.

There’s no one formula that says to do this or that. Some people never put up with crap from
anybody at anytime, while others can work things out. One person can be bugged by someone’s attitude and somebody else not. We’re in the field of human behavior here, and it’s a pretty large one. The bottom line is—you do what you need to do according to what you think is best. You need to keep your personal integrity intact and take counsel with yourself despite any evaluations from others.

(Be sure and work something out with groups you leave so you don’t leave a trail of potential enemies behind. These may be people you eventually want to work with, or people who might want to hire you at some point in the future.)

SELF-CONFIDENCE

The more confidence you have in yourself, the easier everything is. When you are self-confident you feel good about who you are, what you are doing and have faith in your ability to make correct decisions. The better you feel about yourself the easier it is to actually observe what’s going on, then determine what to do or how to act in any given situation.

Though many things can contribute to one’s confidence level, the bottom line for a musician is his or her musicianship level, balanced with playing experience. When you are good and know it, when you’ve played with many people and experienced doing well, and when you’ve recovered and moved forward from falling on your head a few times—you develop self-confidence. When you have confidence in yourself it will come across to other people and they will have confidence in you as well.

Whereas crooked teeth, being unhealthy and any emotional instabilities can all diminish self-confidence; practicing efficiently, sounding good and liking what you do can raise it. Practicing your instrument isn’t going to “cure” a deep-seated fear of purple grasshoppers but the more you know about what you are doing the better your chances are of having true confidence.

Certain people seem confident all the time no matter what they’re doing, or no matter how well or not they are doing it. Some people are just like that, whereas others need to work at it harder. Displaying confidence can be many things from having a natural inner calm, covering up insecurities, to a burst of power to pull oneself through a tough time.

People increase their confidence in many ways. Musically speaking, when you train at your craft, get good, feel good about your playing and play with others a lot you gain confidence.

ANTAGONISTIC PEOPLE

You cannot be successful or confident at anything if you are closely connected to someone who is antagonistic toward you or what you are doing. Whether it be open hostility toward you, or the smiley-faced-stabbing-remarks that “don’t really mean anything,” these people can ruin your life—and will.

For the more innocent people in the world it can be hard to believe that someone you are close to would prefer you to fail. Why would anybody be that way? Well, without getting into the “Whys” of it all, some people are like that and you need to be alerted to this fact.

Have you ever known anyone, that every time you’ve finished speaking with them about what you are doing you feel like maybe you shouldn’t do it; or maybe you’re not good enough; or you feel a little “smaller” than you did before? Well, they might or might not be “bad people,” but chances are you shouldn’t talk to them about your personal activities anymore.

The person who doesn’t believe your musical goals are valid and thinks they should be given up; the girlfriend or boyfriend who gets pissed because you’re always practicing or going out to rehearse; the person who insists that you should “grow up” and stop dreaming about things that could never happen; and a dozen viewpoints like these mean one thing—they want you to give your music up, because in their eyes you are going to fail. (Chances are they gave up their dreams long ago and couldn’t imagine anyone else achieving theirs.)

Life can be tough enough without close contacts making it worse.

If it’s not a chronic thing you can generally work it out. For example, if a husband starts neglecting his wife, there’s gonna be trouble, and some family policy needs to be made. If Aunt Martha hasn’t a clue about what’s happening, you might be able to explain it to her in a way that results in her saying, “Oh! I had no idea that you were so serious about your music. Well, good luck!”

These are isolated situations that are easily remedied. But, when you have someone actively counter-intending what you are doing, you have got a problem that needs to be dealt with. There are only two ways to go: (1) you handle the person so they never say these things to you, and even if they don’t support what you are doing, at least they don’t oppose it—openly or internally, or (2) you have to not see this person anymore. Period.

I’ve seen people quit playing because of associations like this; and I’ve seen a dramatic resurgence of a persons career after remedying it. This is very important, even if difficult to deal with—which it can be.

Fun and success are what’s happening, so don’t let anyone kill it for you—not anyone.

The world needs good music and good entertainment; and if you have the chance of supplying it I invite you to do so—it can benefit everyone around.

* * *

Marty Buttwinick

How to Make A Living as a Guitarist

2009-04-26T16:34:00.000-07:00

[This is the original, unedited version of the GUITAR PLAYER magazine article titled: FREELANCING—How To Get Hometown Gigs Now. Guitar Player Issue 311—Vol. 2g No. 11, November 1995.]

Many guitarists want to make a living in the music business. You get an instrument and learn to play because it looks fun, exciting or cool—and off you go. After awhile you’re jamming, and making a career with music sounds like a good move. At some point this “good move” can become a fruitful career... or a disaster.

Record Industry vs Music-playing Business
The “music business” is composed of two main categories: the record industry and the “music-playing business.” I introduce and define the term “music-playing business” as any paid musical work a musician does outside of record industry activities. Over the past few decades it seems like the term “music business” has grown to mean the record industry, and this has caused some confusion.

Musicians who confuse these categories generally have a hard time or fail. You can play too many stock licks in your original band—or be too original at a cover gig where people want to hear music that’s familiar—not something they’ve never heard before. This is just a fact of life.

Musicians who function according to the category they’re involved with have the best chance for success. True, these categories can overlap and weave in and out of each other like a solo through chord changes, the common denominator being music itself. How-ever, they are two different areas requiring two different sets of skills and abilities.

This article is about the music-playing business, and the working guitarist in it. The work-a-day musician is a highly skilled craftsperson who gets paid for playing. Playing is your job, and the better you play, the better your chances of making a living. It’s very simple. Most working musicians don’t have record deals, though, of course, having a deal is something to aim for. Original music is where it’s at for many, including myself—but does that have to exclude everything else?

Being a working musician is an art and a business rolled into one, which is perhaps why so many people don’t understand musicians: there’s more to it than meets the eye. There are different styles of music, personal preferences, day jobs, conflicts, rent and people’s attitudes (some valid and some not). “I’ll never play covers! (But I hate my day job).” “I only play lead! (But I can’t find enough gigs).” These are comments heard daily nationwide. When you dig below the surface, there are many elements involved and many decisions to make.

When you want to play for a living... play! Play music. Any kind of music. I’d rather play a show of corny music for a few hundred bucks than work a job I don’t like.

I’d rather play for a living while striving for the original thing.

It all depends on what you want to do.

Attitude
To be a full time musician you have to develop the right frame of mind. You need to firmly establish priorities and be willing to do what’s needed without fussing or copping attitudes that could slow down your progress. You need to be self-motivating, develop confidence and be professional in all that you do. You have to replace the original-music viewpoint of “I’m going to do it my way” with “I’m going to play to make this gig a success!” A professional does what he needs to do without letting his or her personal emotions interfere, and adopts viewpoints that promote the growth of a career— not the collapse of one.

If you like what you’ve read so far, the complete article contains the following:

Versatility
12 Ingredients for Success
Types of Gigs
Finding Work
To take your next step:
~ Decide what kind of lifestyle you want.
~ Determine what skills you need to generate the amount of desired work.
~ Determine how much time and energy you are willing to invest in your future.
~ Create a plan that takes you from where you are now to where you want to be.
~ Do it—or don’t do it. The choice is yours.

Want to get the full scoop about how to make a living as a guitarist?

Get it here for only $4.95 and you’ll receive the full ebook in your email in-box!

The Seven Different Types of Charts

2009-04-26T10:43:00.000-07:00

As a bassist, bandleader, teacher and music copyist I’ve worked with hundreds of singers throughout the years. Though working musicians know hundreds of tunes, singers need to have good charts in order to have their music played the way they want. I define a “good chart” as a piece of written music that effectively tells the musicians what they should play.

Written music comes in seven basic forms: chord charts, sheet music, songbooks, leadsheets, fake books, master rhythm charts and fully notated parts.

As a musician has a responsibility to correctly play the chart before him, the supplier of the chart has the responsibility of providing the right kind of chart. Knowing what type of chart to use for what kind of tune or gig is very important.

This article explains what the different types of charts are, and under what circumstances to use them. I hope you find it useful.

TYPES OF CHARTS
Charts can be simple or elaborate according to the style of music and type of gig. Cover tunes are traditionally learned from recordings; classical and choral music can be found in sheet music stores as well as in various music catalogs; numerous tunes will be found in music books of all kinds; and many public libraries carry recordings and written music for your use.

The word “chart” refers to any piece of written music or any arrangement (music that has been adapted in a unique manner ) of a tune. Decades ago it was strictly a “cool” slang term for a tune, but any piece of music could be called a chart these days, though a classical buff might not refer to a Mozart work as a “chart.”

Knowing what type of chart to use for what kind of tune is very important. When you’re playing a gig and someone hands you a chart—it is what it is and you either read it well or not. But, if you buy charts, have them made for you or provide them yourself, you need to know which kinds to use for which situations. Years back, while doing singer showcases, singers brought in all kinds of charts—good ones, bad ones, incorrect ones, inappropriate ones, and it was a real pain. The singers who provided the right kinds of charts got their music played the way they wanted. The singers who had the wrong kinds of charts didn’t, and weren’t very happy about it. Unless a musician already knows the specific parts, he can only play according to what’s on the chart before him. Though a good musician can improvise a good part in any style, if a specific musical line needs to be played, it needs to be written out.

As a musician has a responsibility to correctly play the chart before him, the supplier of the chart has the responsibility of providing an appropriate one.

Without getting into too many music notation specifics, here are the different kinds of charts and when they are used:

CHORD CHARTS
A chord chart contains the chords, meter (how the song is counted, e.g., in 4 or in 3 like a waltz), and the form of the song (the exact order of the sections). This type of chart is primarily used when: (1) the specific musical parts are improvised or already known, but the form and chords need to be referred to, (2) to provide chords to improvise over, or (3) when a last-minute chart needs to be written and there isn’t time for anything more elaborate.

A chord chart does not contain the melody or any specific instrumental parts to be played. To play from simple chord charts a musician basically needs to have steady time, know the chords, and improvise his part in whatever style the tune is in.

SHEET MUSIC
Sheet music is a store-bought version of a song printed by a publisher, which contains the piano part, chords, lyrics, melody and form. An instrumental piece will of course just have the music. Most song issues come in piano arrangement style, meaning the music is written out for a piano. Sometimes there are versions for other instruments as well. Sheet music is not meant to be completely representative of the actual recording, and the actual arrangement that you’ve heard on a recording is seldom present.

Many people have experienced the frustration of getting the sheet music to a song they like, playing it, and discovering that the chords are different than the recording—and sometimes the form is too. Unfortunately that’s the way it is a lot, and could be for a number of different reasons. To get the exact arrangement and chords, you need to do a “takedown” of the song—learn it by ear. A takedown is when you listen to a piece of music and write it down. Takedowns can range from simple chord charts to elaborate orchestral parts or anything in between. In order to do good takedowns, you need to have good ears, understand and be fluid with music notation to the complexity of the type of music you’re working with, and preferably understand music (the more the better). Having “good ears” consists of recognizing and understanding the music whether heard on the radio, played by another musician or heard in your head.

SONGBOOKS
Songbooks are compilations of many tunes and often contain the same information that sheet music does—along with the chords and arrangement being different than the recording most of the time. Sheet music commonly has full introductions and endings, whereas songbook tunes are generally shortened to create space in the book for more tunes. Sheet music is generally written to be played on a keyboard, but songbooks come in different styles and for different instruments. They are compiled by artist, style, decade, and various ways including movie themes, Broadway hits, etc.

“Songbooks” are a good reference source when other, more exact charts are unavailable. For example: I needed two movie themes for a gig once (client request). Instead of spending $8 for two tunes of sheet music, I bought a book of movie themes for $16 that contained over a hundred tunes. Sheet music and songbooks are pretty unusable at gigs because of cumbersome page turns and bulkiness; but in an emergency you use them and do what you can. If having to use sheet music or songbooks either: (1) recopy the tune by hand onto 1–3 pages or (2) photocopy it and tape the pages together (although, strictly speaking, this may be considered copyright infringement). Make sure to always provide a copy for each musician.

To play from songbooks and sheet music, a musician needs to be able to read the music notation, or at least improvise a part from the chord symbols, i.e., a guitar strum, bass groove, piano groove, etc., or better yet, both. A vocalist can sing the words if the melody is known, or be able to read the notated melody if not known.

LEAD SHEETS
Lead sheets contain the chords, lyrics and melody line of the song and are mainly used by singers, accompanists and arrangers, though they appear on the bandstand now and again. Songwriters use lead sheets to copyright their songs, and very often sheet music includes a lead sheet of the tune as a condensed version to use. Instead of turning three to six pages of sheet music, a lead sheet is usually one or two pages long. Lead sheets do not contain any music notation except the melody and chords, so a musician needs to know how to improvise when reading from one. A lead sheet is generally written out by a music copyist, who is someone who specializes in preparing written music.

Playing from lead sheets minimally requires playing an accompaniment from the chords and understanding the form directions and symbols (the markings telling you to go to the verse or the chorus or the end, etc.) and maximally having excellent accompaniment skills and reading notation fluidly.

FAKE BOOKS
A “fake book” is a large book of tunes that contain only the melody line, lyrics and chords. There’s no bass part, guitar part or piano part. That’s why they call it a “fake book.” You have to already know your parts or improvise them in the style of the tune. Some people call that “faking it.” Faking it means to be musically adept enough to be able to follow along by ear and figure it out as you go—that’s one of the reasons for “ear training.” When your ears “get trained,” a person learns to recognize and understand the relationship of pitches and musical elements. With this understanding you can “hear” your way through tunes, even if you haven’t heard it before. You “fake” it. However—when you don’t “hear so well,” you’re really faking it.

Before there was an abundance of legal fake books on the market, there was an abundance of illegal fake books on the streets—and there still is. Since a working musician needs to have access to a large number of tunes at gigs, musicians compiled books of hundreds of useful tunes containing only melody lines and chords. A working player doesn’t need all the notes written out because he can improvise, so large books were made with choice tunes. Some fake books are hand copied, either by a pro copyist or casually done by pen or pencil, while others consist of cut up sheet music where all the piano parts are removed leaving the melody and chords—for the purpose of condensing space.

Rather than take stacks of songbooks to gigs, you pop a fake book of hundreds of choice tunes into your gig bag and off you go. A tune taking up five or six pages in songbook/sheet music form can take up a page or less when rewritten by hand or cut up, leaving only the chords and melody. These fake books are often used and I’ve seldom been at a casual where someone hasn’t had at least one.

The reason these books are illegal is copyright infringement. With the homemade books nothing goes through the publishing houses that own the rights to the tunes so neither the publishers nor the composers get paid for their use. The Catch-22 over the years has been the fact that there haven’t been any good legal fake books that pro musicians could use at a gig. In a songbook of 200 tunes maybe three were usable. So, the players made there own, and gigging musicians lived happily ever after. But since making these books is illegal, some years ago a few nationwide distributors were arrested and fined for copyright infringement. But you still see the illegal books on the bandstands nonetheless.

Over the years many legal fake books have been published and are pretty good for the most part. There are pop books, jazz books, country books and special wedding books with all the key music that brides like. Big sheet music stores should have them all.

I don’t know if the legal books will ever replace the illegal versions on the bandstand, but things are headed in the right direction. Due to exclusive publishing rights, no one publisher has been able to put all the professionally desired tunes in one book. Business is business I guess.

Legal fake books are aplenty at sheet music stores, and illegal books...well, you’re on your own. Trade magazines and union papers often advertise a wide variety of music books as well as joke books, ethnic music and other related entertainment materials. Sometimes instrument stores carry fake books as well.

Fake books are good to have, but the more tunes you know the better.

MASTER RHYTHM CHARTS
Master rhythm charts are charts designed for the rhythm section. It is one chart that contains the general idea for everybody to play from—a sketch of the tune—a master copy of it all for each player. These charts are like elaborate chord charts with just enough specifics on them to make the music either feel and sound more like the original recording, or to provide just enough specifics to make it interesting and recognizable, leaving the rest to improvising.

Unless a tune is composed or arranged in this style to begin with, which many are, these charts are written by someone doing a takedown from a recording, or created from lead sheets or songbooks. Whereas lead sheets are primarily for the singer, master rhythm charts are primarily for the musicians. When a singer provides charts to the musicians in the band, these are the ones to use.

A master rhythm chart contains:
• All the chords
• Key rhythms (the main rhythms)
• Key melodic parts for the instruments
• Key lyrics for reference if desired
• Key background vocals if present
• Dynamics—how loud, how soft, etc.
• Any form, clarifying instructions and symbols needed to ensure a good performance of the tune.

All styles of popular music use master rhythm charts, and it’s common to have one along with a lead sheet for each tune when a singer is involved. Master rhythm chart reading, and writing, entails fluidly improvising in the style of the tune, and fluid notation abilities.

NOTATED PARTS
When the music needs to be extremely specific it will be fully notated. Everything that needs to be played is written on the page. What to play, when to play it and how to play it—the notes, rhythms, dynamics, and any and all notational expressions, such as tempos (how fast or slow), who cues what, etc. Most professional recording sessions and shows require fluid note reading and provide individual parts for each instrument.

CONCLUSION
Provide your musicians with the right kind of chart and chances are your music will sound the way you want. The closer you adhere to this maxim the better your performances will be.

To see examples of each of these chart types, go to the "pics" section of my MySpace site.

Marty Buttwinick
My Email

How to Tighten Up Your Band

2009-04-22T08:57:00.000-07:00

THE OBJECT OF REHEARSING is to tighten up the band’s performance and presentation. When an audience listens, they hear the whole sound. A tune, a set and a show each has something being communicated for an emotional impact. It could be lyric content, musical flow, energy intensity or whatever. This is why the music needs to be fluid and clean to make the music sound good as a group.

Individuals need to prepare their parts at home alone. Band rehearsals are to get the band tight. Obviously, if you need to pause for someone to work out something you do just that, but that’s not the purpose of group rehearsals.

The following principles largely address commercial cover bands, but apply to any size or style of ensemble. These rehearsal principles hold true for original bands as well even though the initial purpose of each rehearsal could be to write and develop material rather than groom a performance.

Key aspects of rehearsals include:
~ Where to rehearse.
~ When to rehearse.
~ Deciding on material.
~ Getting the material (tapes, CD’s, written music, etc.).
~ Writing any needed charts.
~ Someone being in charge of making tapes of the material for everyone.
~ Everyone having a cassette/CD player to learn the tunes with.
~ Each individual having a distraction-free, personal practice space at his or her home.
~ Deciding on what tunes to learn first.
~ Having someone in charge of running the rehearsals.

This is what you do:
First: Decide on the goal of the first and subsequent rehearsals. Decide on what you want to accomplish. (It would be ideal to have as much as the big plan written down as possible. The better you know where you are going and what you want to do, the easier it will be to plan rehearsals and meetings.)

If doing cover material:
1. Have a meeting and decide what tunes or material to do at your first rehearsal. Within the style range of the group, focus on any mutually known tunes or material first. If you all know or are familiar with certain tunes that aren’t going to be on your “main set list” you can start with those for fun. Start with the easiest tunes so you can get some fun things happening. Your morale will be up to the degree you are accomplishing something.

2. Get the tapes or music together and arrange for everyone to receive a copy. Make a master tape to add to as you proceed. (For written music keep the masters in a file or a binder.)

3. Before the next rehearsal, make sure everyone learns the tunes or practices the written music to the designated tunes. If everybody is ready except one person the whole rehearsal time can be shot. You can learn the tunes at rehearsal but it’s more efficient when everyone learns the tunes by themselves first. When the band gets together you should work on band stuff.

4. Get together and start rehearsing.

Rehearsing
What to rehearse is determined by—well, whatever it is you need to rehearse! It’s just that simple. Take each section and get it clean. Then, combine it all together and see what you have. You just repeat that process until it’s tight and finished. If the transition from the verse to the chorus is weak, you practice verse, chorus, verse, chorus, verse, chorus, etc. until you have it. If the groove is shaky, just play the groove on one chord until it’s tight. Play it for an hour or longer if needed.
Do whatever it takes.

Things most likely needing rehearsal are:
~ Grooves – the underlying repetitive rhythmic structure.
~ Breaks – strong changes in the groove for variety and interest.
~ Dynamics – the expressive change of loudness and softness to add interest and color instead of things being monotone.
~ Cues – physical gestures or specific musical parts signaling that something is going to change or happen.
~ Vocals. (Lyrics, melody and harmony parts.)
~ Beginnings and endings.
~ Transitions from section to section (sectional transitions).
~ Who’s going to solo when.
~ The entire tune to get a smooth flow to it. Parts are parts, but the tune itself is larger than the sum of its parts.
~ Groups of tunes and an entire set.

As a band can sound like one tight unit or a group of individuals playing at the same time; each tune can either be one smooth flowing entity from beginning to end or a bunch of parts stuck together.

The basic rehearsal flow is:
1. Run down a tune from beginning to end.
2. Notice any rough spots.
3. Take up each rough spot and tighten it up.
4. Run through a series of parts to get those sections and transitions clean.
5. Run the tune again.
6. Repeat steps 1 – 5 until the tune is finished.
Rehearsals can be efficient or not. If you don’t care how long it takes to get the show on the road, then you can chat, go to the store three times, get phone calls and take long breaks. But if you want to get working, work during the time you should.

The more efficient you are at doing things at rehearsals the sooner you’ll have your act together. Right? Well—run the verse. Stop. Run the verse slower. Stop. Run the verse up to tempo. Stop. Do this again and again without any downtime. Then do the same with each part of the tune. Then, when you’re running a set you do the same thing.

In addition to the entire group rehearsing, “sectional rehearsals” are a very efficient way to go (rehearsing just a few instruments at a time). Since one tune is made up of many elements, isolating these elements gives a magnified view which allows you to tighten it up faster. When the elements are isolated it’s easier to: (1) see exactly what’s needed—how good or bad it really is, and (2) specifically work on that, without any hidden barriers like thinking something is one way when it’s really not. It’s extremely helpful to record the main parts of a rehearsal and listen to it. This way you can brush up on your part as well as get a “listener’s” view of your sound.

Various sectional combinations:
* Rhythm section – just grooves (Rhythm section: the instruments in the band whose primary musical function is to accompany the vocalist or soloist by playing in-the-pocket grooves. Keyboards, guitar, bass and drums are normally referred to as the” rhythm section.”).
* Vocal rehearsals – just vocals with an instrument or tape reference.
* Just bass and drums.
* Each instrument alone with the drums.
* Each instrument alone with bass.
* Just the horn section if you have one.
* Any combinations your ensemble could have.

When you’re learning material on your own, the things to practice are:
* Learning the form of the tune and becoming familiar and comfortable with it.
* Learning you own part (including switching effects settings/MIDI patches).
* Learning the lyrics.
* Singing your parts – lead or background.
* Singing and playing simultaneously.
* Singing and playing simultaneously while doing choreography.

When sitting down alone with a tape, it may or may not be easy to get the music. If your ears are developed enough to recognize what’s going on you should do fine. But, if it’s really hard to get the notes, chords and rhythms, you might need some help and some good music instruction. With the right instruction even the worst-off can achieve a level of excellence. Some of my students are professionals and learn tunes by ear easily, and study with the express purpose of improving this ability. Learning tunes while driving can be a great time saver. Even if you can’t get the specific notes and chords, you can learn lyrics, vocals and form.

If you’re new to learning tunes from recordings I suggest the following sequence:
1. Listen to the tune many times and get to know it. Learn the form and the melody (or main focus point, i.e., licks, rap, etc.). Learning rates vary from person to person so it could take listening to it three, ten or thirty times.
2. Learn the chords (starting with the bass notes) or your main line, e.g., guitar riff, synth horn part, bass line.
3. Play along with the tune until you have all your chords or lines down.
4. Play along some more and learn all the breaks.
5. Fine-tune your parts.
6. Continue in this fashion until you are done.

Having a variable speed cassette recorder or CD player is invaluable for doing takedowns (learning the music by ear). There are a number of CD players and software programs out that let you slow things down while keeping the pitch the same or slow it down and actually change the key. Quality of audio equipment as well as quality and type of recording can make it difficult to hear so keep that in mind if your ears seem good but you can’t figure something out. (Sometimes it just hard to hear something because of the recording itself.)

When playing cover material, most of the time you need to play the parts exactly the way they are on the tape. Specific bass parts, drum grooves and certain melodic lines may make up most of the tunes substance and if you omit those, there can be very little left—in some tunes it might not matter. And unless there is a very specific “signature lick,” anything close might do. (Signature lick: a riff {specific series of notes and rhythms} that exemplifies a certain artist, player, style or tune.)

Flashy lead guitar solos can be tough at first. You don’t learn Steve Vai’s or Albert Lee’s techniques over the weekend unless you’re pretty accomplished to begin with (technique-wise at least). So what do you do when faced with something too tough? Well, you either work out something similar in intensity or skip the tune altogether. Which way you go might be a “band decision” so check it out and do what’s best. The last thing you want to do is attempt something way over your head and blow it big time on stage. It’s not uncommon to make an occasional mistake in public (clamming) but to go way over your head is another thing altogether. If you do make a mistake, chances are no one will know except you (though you might think everybody heard it). When this happens just keep on going and don’t make a big deal of it. (And if you really blow it, well..., you have to live with it and practice more so it doesn’t happen again.)

Learning Lyrics
Different singers use different techniques to remember words. Here is a drill created by a friend of mine, Mitch Talevi. Mitch has a lifetime of lead singing and being a guitarist/front man. He has taught this technique to his vocal students as well as using it himself.

Drill for learning lyrics:
1. Take a song and write the lyrics down on paper.
2. Slowly talk through them, pronouncing each syllable. Leave space between them. Don’t use notes yet. Just talk through them. Do this two or three times.
3. Sing the song.
4. Repeat steps 2 and 3 until the song is known.
As Mitch explains: “This is a method of actually learning the lyrics and making the song yours to sing and perform. When it’s yours, you ‘own it,’ so can then get it across to the audience. You don’t memorize or use tricks to remember the lyrics—you learn them. Sometimes you have to do the drill ten times through. When learning a new song just sit down and do this—it saves a lot of heartbreak later on.”

Tightening it Up
The best way to tighten up anything is to slow it down and play that part over and over—up to 20 or 30 times or more if needed. Work on the fine points. When you’re working with musical skill and ability, or lack of it, you’re working with such elements as: understanding, control and certainty; or not understanding, reservation and uncertainty.

The control needed to play something fluidly, evenly and professionally is achieved by practicing slowly. How else can you grab onto something? You can’t with any lasting success. A beginning batter does not start off by hitting fastballs. Developing professional level skill is not like an assembly line where everything is slapped together as fast as possible so that when all the nuts and bolts are assembled the thing is done. Once you are at a pro level, you can learn things very rapidly. A pro has already gone through the years of practice, rehearsals and gigs—he’s paid his dues and has put in his personal practice time.

Constructive Criticism
Offering one’s opinion about how someone else could tighten up his part should be done with tact. Some people take constructive criticism well and some don’t. Some people will get defensive no matter what you say and you have to live with it or not. The way you say things can either assist matters or make them worse.

“You play nice parts but your grooves are bad” might invalidate someone and make correction difficult. Saying: “Your parts sound great. Could you tighten up the groove a bit?” would be a better way of saying it. Using the word “but” in this type of communication could imply something “bad” or “negative” and should be avoided.

Since people’s emotional stability and personal confidence can vary tremendously, you have to be able to say things in a manner that will accomplish the goal. A stable pro might turn to a buddy with a grin on his face and say something derogative in jest and have it be no big deal. Say something like that to a guy who is lacking confidence or is weak-hearted and you could ruin his day or month or year. Be tactful.

Musicianship Level
More rehearsal is needed at lower levels of musicianship because people still have attention on what they’re doing. A drummer is still coordinating his limbs, guitarists are still working on tough chord changes, musicians are working on being able to sing and play at the same time, and soloists can still be wondering, “What am I really doing?” At the beginning, musicians are more concerned with what they are playing than having the freedom to create music without reservations.

When you get to higher levels of musicianship, you don’t need to think about these things—you just play. You learn the part and play it in context with a smooth and even flow or you just read it down. The more skilled a musician is the less rehearsal is needed. When I rehearse with a big band it’s mostly to see if the charts are right or to work on the entire show, rather than to figure out my part. (However, if something is hard, you take a minute to practice it of course. Sometimes you don’t have the material to work on at home so you learn it at rehearsal. There’s no other option.)

Apply these concepts and let me know how it goes!

How Music Lessons Relate to Live Performance

2009-03-04T10:02:00.000-08:00

I thought you might find it interesting to know how music lessons can directly relate to live performance in ways that might not seem obvious. I’ve been wanting to write something about this for years, one of my gigs last December sparked my interest in getting this done.

I played a gig in Redondo Beach with my singer/songwriter pal, Ron Rutherford. Really good talent. We opened for Leon Russel, so it wasn’t just “any ole’ gig.”

It was a little last minute with only a handful of rehearsals, and my job as musical director was to slam the band into shape! (Which I did.) To me, this meant: exact rehearsal times, efficient rehearsals and nothing missed. This entailed a complete overview of what needed to be done, a correct evaluation of how much time was needed for each point and ensuring that everything needing rehearsal was rehearsed—and things not needing rehearsal were not. It’s easy and fun to rehearse things one likes to play, but if that time spent neglects rehearsing what you NEED to rehearse, it’s not only wasted time but detrimental by neglecting what needs to be done and diminishing the possibility of playing a great show.

Here is a brief list of the corresponding points that compare lessons to live performance:

~ Learning personal skills translate into playing well at gigs (or any performance, for fun or pro).Knowing how to practice one musical aspect on a lesson translates into knowing how to break a song down and rehearse it — as a group. You learn how to do the same, isolated thing repetitively until finished with it. And more importantly, it gives one the tolerance and ability to persist on something until it’s complete.

~ Taking directions from an instructor can translate to taking instruction from a bandleader, producer or stage manager. This is an important skill to have. (Ever work with someone who always has to have things his way—when he’s not in charge? This does not work.) You have to know how to take directions without fussing about things.

~ And lastly, when you have been through good music instruction to the point of actually achieving a musical goal, you gain certainty that you can do it! This certainty builds confidence which carries over to the bandstand.

A few band members who hadn’t had much private instruction were amazed at how fast the show came together.

You want to have as much certainty and confidence as possible when you are performing. This develops mainly from performing a lot, but these roots begin by having certainty as a musician — at whatever level you are at.

Practicing at the Right Speed

2008-11-06T11:00:00.000-08:00

The purpose of practicing is to gain control over some element of music, whether ear training, technique or an isolated passage or riff. Part of gaining control is eliminating hesitations, jerkiness and uncertainty. The goal is having complete “ownership” over what you are doing: you want to “know” that thing in and out.

For ear training, chose the speed that allows you to listen, duplicate and understand what you are hearing. Repetition and focus are key. You might need to play and listen to something hundreds of times before really getting it, and you will improve to the degree you are focused. When you are focused you are “there.” Only when you are there can you duplicate or learn something.

For technique, isolated passages and pieces of music, finding the speed that you can grab a hold of what you are doing is the key. Going too fast can be overly difficult and going too slow can be boring and gruesome. Between too fast and too slow you can find a comfort zone that allows you to be aware of your motions and implement control. Adjust your speed to your awareness level. Find the speed where you can play the passage as best as you can and repeat it, noticing hesitations and uncertainties. Repeat it until it’s smooth and certain. This process could take between five and twenty-five times or more. This is accomplished by noticing the glitches and repeating it until comfortable. Your playing will smooth out simply by putting your attention on these areas and repeating them over and over. If your attention is not focused on what’s happening, improvement can be slow. What works for me, is going over the passage until smooth, then slowing it down a bit and repeating the process. Then, slowing it down a little more and going through the steps again. At this point I like to speed things up and see how comfortable it’s getting. Then I go back to a slower tempo and repeat the process. This continues every day until the passage is smooth and certain.

Learning something new seldom happens in one sitting (though it could). Here is a normal progression: (The time lengths are arbitrary and will vary according to the difficulty of the passage and level of focus.

Day 1 takes 30 minutes to groove a step in until comfortable.
Day 2 takes 30 minutes and feels like you haven’t progressed.
Day 3 takes 28 minutes to groove it in.
Day 4 takes 15 minutes to groove in.
Day 5 takes 10 minutes to groove in.

You miss three days of practicing.

Day 7 takes 15 minutes.
Day 8 takes 10 minutes.
Day 9 takes 5 minutes.
Day 10 takes 5 minutes.
Day 11 takes 5 minutes.
Day 12, no warm-up was needed. You played it well the first time.
Day 13, no warm-up was needed. You played it well the first time.
Day 14, no warm-up was needed. You played it well the first time.

Chances are that passage is finished.

Go for complete ownership over what you are playing and you can’t go wrong.

Marty Buttwinick
Buttwinick Teaching Studio

Guidelines for Practicing a Musical Instrument

2008-09-08T12:43:00.000-07:00

Be there. Have your attention on what you are doing.
Be willing to learn something and accept the fact that it probably won’t happen over a weekend. You could learn something specific in a few minutes, but application to your overall playing takes some time. (Though certain things can happen quickly depending on your current skill level. Different people progress at different speeds according to current ability levels, past experience and the subject being studied.)
Understand what you are practicing and why you are practicing it. Keep you personal goals in mind and practice for that result.
Learn to relax your body when playing. Accumulated tension is one of the biggest causes of body problems, rough playing and a host of ills. There are about 120 muscles, bones and tendons in both forearms and hands, and all of these “parts” are learning new coordinations. While you are learning control you will get tense. It can be natural to use force to do something until control is developed. Not being relaxed when you play is like driving a car with the brakes slightly depressed. The brake pads are going to wear out real fast and you’re in for a bumpy ride. Notice and release tension when you play. Tension can occur in any part of your body: hands, wrists, arms, neck, shoulders, lower back, face, mouth, legs, feet.
Learn how to practice at the “right” speed. To play anything well, you need to develop complete control over what you are doing. Control is developed by repetitive actions at the speed that you can actually do the thing you are suppose to be doing. If you go too fast you can’t “grab a hold” of whatever it is and it’s like screeching around a corner in a car while driving too fast in the mountains. Go too fast and you end up in the trees. (If you ever got mad and frustrated while practicing I bet you were just going to fast!)
Understand the words and symbols on any written materials you are using. (I was giving a kid a piano lesson recently and she almost fell asleep in the middle of her lesson, but was bright and awake when she walked in. I snooped around and discovered that there was one symbol in a song book that her dad got her that sent her under the table. I found the symbol, defined it for her and she instantly brightened up and came back to life.)
Learn to sing in tune if you don’t already. If you can’t, this is easier to learn then you might think. It’s almost impossible to fully enjoy playing music if your ears aren’t working.
Develop a good sense of rhythm. Having good rhythm is vital, probably the most vital aspect of being a musician. Good rhythm can be developed with the proper drills. If your sense of rhythm is really bad it could take some time; however, you CAN develop good rhythmic ability with efficient instruction and drilling.
Have fun. Music isn’t worth doing if you can’t have some fun while doing it. Not all studies are fun — many things aren’t. But there is always a way to make some part of what you are doing fun and rewarding.

Making Time to Play Music

2008-03-24T09:34:00.000-07:00

Time, money, work, family obligations; when do I have time to play? Let’s see, well, ah… I don’t know!!!

Have you ever gone through this routine? Unless playing or practicing music is the major priority in life, finding time to fit in this personal enjoyment can be a challenge.

If you’re in this category, the following steps might help:

1. Work out exactly what you want to do: what you want to play and what you want to get out of it. Shoot for your dreams, but be honest with yourself and keep it realistic. If you haven’t already put enough (or any) music into your life, if you start to broad or too big you could crash. Choose something that’s concise and looks doable.

2. Look over your life activities, plans and schedules. Create a concise overview of everything you do. Write this out on one or two pages. If you already have a clear life plan use it as a guide.

3. Decide on about how many hours a week you think you could spend on music. Keep in mind that playing for ten minutes a day can be more workable then playing for five hours on a day off. Keep in mind that you don’t want to start off too small or too big. It needs to be a “realistic” amount.

4. Have a blank weekly calendar to write on as a schedule template.

5. Write in ONE, set-stone-activity as a aligning factor. Use what ever is the most stable and predictable activity such as work hours, going to school or driving your kids to school.

6. Create some regular times to play music. Choose what might be the most workable times, while keeping in mind your other activities. (I practice the best first thing in the morning.)

7. Write in your other regular activities. You might need to adjust some priorities if you have hobbies, read a lot or watch TV.

8. Work over your basic schedule template and adjust activities as needed.

Now, at the beginning of each week create a weekly schedule including your personal music time and any thing else you need. Each week can be a little different so this should be done at the beginning of each week.

As you proceed through your new schedule, work out the kinks. If music is going to work it has to be made a priority to a certain degree—even if it’s ten minutes a night four days a week. The idea is to be at your instrument at the scheduled time and DO SOMETHING ! If you don’t get in all your time right away don’t worry about it. Just get some motion occurring and have fun.

There are many productivity concepts around. Find or develop the ones that work best for you. Playing music adds some sparkle to life. It’s an opportunity to create your own universe.

Now go play something!

2007-11-23T17:28:00.000-08:00

About Reading Music

2007-11-22T12:46:00.000-08:00

This article lays out some various gradients to reading music. A gradient to learning is a step-by-step approach starting with the easiest thing and progressing to more difficult levels.

Many musicians read music fluidly while others are either stumped by it all, are mildly confused or just don’t really know what’s it’s all about . I’ve been teaching people to read music for years and it’s actually not that difficult a subject. To read well takes a lot of practice, of course, but if approached correctly is a very understandable subject.

There is a hierarchy of things to learn. When you start with the easiest aspect of reading and proceed from there one can learn smoothly. A common difficulty students have is simply not drilling each level of skill long enough to get comfortable before advancing to the next level: too much too soon. When you learn things one step at a time and become proficient with each element before going on to the next element, learning to read well is quite doable.

One of the common difficulties people have isn’t the notes on the page but the notes on their instrument! In order to read well you need to first understand your instrument and, ideally, have a basic foundation about how music is put together. The most basic “theory” is simply knowing what the notes on the instrument are called. How could you read notes on the page and transfer that visual to playing those notes on the instrument without knowing what they are? Well, I’ve had many students who “had trouble reading” when they actually read just fine: they simply didn’t know their instrument well enough. So when they learned their instrument better, like magic they could read. It’s very interesting.

Another common difficulty is lacking basic musical skills such as being able to feel the rhythms they are looking at and playing. Ultimately one should look at a piece of music and hear and feel what one sees. There are many levels of this and the most fundamental skills needed to enjoy reading music can be readily learned with some good instruction.

This is a suggested order of things to learn to get your reading skills up to par:

1. Knowing the definitions of the words and symbols used.

2. Learning to navigate a piece of music. This consists of learning the symbols that tell you where to go. The most basic piece of music to learn to read is a “chord chart.” A “chart” is a slang term for any piece of music. A chord chart is simply a piece of music with only chord symbols and the form written on it. The “form” is the order of the sections, such as verse, chorus and bridge. There are no notes or rhythms written on the paper. To read a chord chart you need to understand what chords are. For example, a “C Chord” is made up of the single notes C, E and G. The chart will just have a C written on it and you need to know the rest. Learning chords is easier to learn then many think, and there are only three or four symbols to learn that tell you where to go on a chart. These symbols just tell you to repeat a section however many times or to jump from one part of the chart to another: like a driving direction telling you what street to go to and which way to turn. You can also take a piece of sheet music for a song and just read the chords without dealing with all of the notes and get use to that.

3. Understanding pitch notation. A “pitch,” for this example, is just a note. There are five lines and four spaces that big dots (note heads) go on that tell you what note to play. If you know the notes on your instrument it is easy to learn what note on the page means what note on the instrument, and the more you know about music the easier it is. When you can speak a word and know how it’s spelled you can easily recognize it on the written page: so it goes with music. When you can play a certain thing you can recognize it when you see it.

4. Understanding rhythm notation. Various lines, dots and shapes tell you when to play notes and for how long to hold them out.

5. Putting it all together on complete pieces of written music. Written music goes from easy to difficult, and learning to read just takes a step-by-step approach to putting it all together.

There are only 6 shapes that make up most of reading music: 6 shapes. That’s not too big a mountain to climb. Combine that with some fundamental instrument skills and musical abilities and you can learn to read music.

You don’t need to read music to play well; playing is playing and reading is reading.

But if you want to improve your reading or get started, start with the above steps, get a few lessons with someone who knows what they are doing and start the adventure!

About Reading Music by Marty Buttwinick

Can music lessons ruin your originality?

2007-11-13T10:47:00.000-08:00

Contrary to what some people believe, music instruction does not have to blunt one’s creativity. “Good” music instruction will enable one to expand and be MORE original, whereas “bad” music instruction can most definitely ruin your originality.

If what you study promotes understanding, practical skill, creativity, thinking on one’s own and expressing oneself, taking lessons can increase your ability to be original. Anything that promotes and nurtures these things can be considered to be “good.” Anything that inhibits these things can be considered to be “bad.”

From my experience, musicians who have had “bad” music lessons were taught one or more of the following: (1) things they didn’t need to know, (2) things they didn’t want to know, (3) were given bits and pieces of things instead of tying all the pieces of the puzzle together into a clear picture, (4) were showed instrument techniques that were either too hard, too easy or seemingly not relevant, (5) given lessons that didn’t seem to relate to their goals, (6) weren’t given the skills, information or guidance that the student really wanted and needed, (7) were given too many silly songs to play, (8) was taught to read when they didn’t want or need to, (9) was given false information that didn’t seem to relate to anything, (10) had mechanical things to do without any musical application (i.e., learn scales but not how to use them or lean song form but never write a song), and (11) wasn’t taught want they really wanted to know: had their personal goals neglected due to the teacher forcing upon them the teacher’s personal interests.

I am fortunate enough to have had a rather diverse background to pull information from and relate things to. I started piano at age three, drums at five, clarinet at eight, guitar at twelve, electric bass at thirteen and upright bass at eighteen. I’ve studied at universities and played gigs in ghettos, have played Mozart, Bach and Beethoven with 150 piece symphony orchestras, as well as playing rock and blues in garage-bands. Along the way I’ve studied with great teachers (and a few lousy ones), learned from books, copied licks from records and attended classes with wise old professors.

Music lessons should be fun and effective. Delivering quality music lessons is actually quite easy. After 25,000 hours in the teacher chair I have experienced the simplicity of it all: (1) discover what the student wants to do, (2) determine what the student needs to do to accomplish what he wants, (3) create a program that directly guides the student to his or her goals, (4) deliver the instruction in an efficient yet interesting manner, (5) give lessons that are neither too easy or too difficult, (6) set attainable short- and long-term targets (goals) for the student to reach (i.e., a performance, writing a first song, etc.), and (7) communicate freely about how things are going.

The key points in a student’s goal attainment, whether professionally, just for fun, or for the development of personal style and originality are: (1) the willingness and ability of the teacher to personally work with the student before him without being rote, (2) the willingness and ability of the student/musician to “be a student” and honestly strive to get the most out of what he is being instructed in without having the attitude of “already knowing it all,” (3) the workability of the teaching method itself, and (4) the instructor’s ability to instruct. When these points occur, abilities expand, professional skills are developed and originality blooms. If these four points aren’t there you might not get better with lessons, and your ability to create your own style or original music could be diminished.

Can music lessons ruin your originality? Not when they are right on the mark! Good music lessons should let you take your originality into a screaming affluence of creative ability and production.

Marty Buttwinick

The Language of Music - Part 2

2007-11-08T10:23:00.000-08:00

An interesting part of teaching has been getting the idea across to students that you can’t experience something until you actually experience it; and you can’t experience it until you can actually do it. As you don’t know what it’s like to sit on a horse until you sit on a horse, you don’t really know what it’s like to play something well until you actually play something well! And until you actually hear something, recognize it and play on it on your instrument the first time you try you haven’t experienced “playing by ear.” To learn these things, calm, relaxed and efficient practicing is necessary. There’s no way around this.

On a physical level, the purpose of practicing is to work out the kinks and hesitations to develop control over what you’re playing. To play with a tense body is like driving a car with the emergency brake on. Practicing too fast is like speeding through the mountains and screeching around the corners—you will most likely end up in a tree. You need to develop relaxed control before going fast—even with playing one note. Learn to relax when you play!

For ear training, practicing achieves a familiarity with sounds and what they are called. It’s similar to knowing what words mean verses being able to say them without understanding their definitions. An infant most likely doesn’t know what “green” is until someone points to something green and says “This is green.” It’s the same thing with ear training. You take some sounds, learn what they’re called and how to play them, then drill listening and identifying them. Then as you can know and recognize a few different colors or many of them, you learn to recognize a few musical sounds or hundreds of them: small vocabulary—large vocabulary.

A major part of learning the language of music is practicing at the right speed; the speed in which you can actually DO what it is, then through repetition gaining control and certainty. (And some things need to be repeated hundreds of times before you get it so be patient!) Then once you can do whatever it is you can get it faster and more fluid. Practicing too fast is probably the number one boo-boo students make.

There are many elements to the language, and until the pieces are put together the puzzle remains unfinished. When I teach I spend a great deal of time simply filling in the holes that people have in their puzzles and creating sequences of things to do to complete the picture: small picture or big picture.

Whether you are learning your first songs, learning to read or filling in the holes, find something you want to improve and create a realistic practice routine. Put your puzzle together piece by piece and eventually the picture will appear and you’ll speak more of the language of music.

Play on!

by Marty Buttwinick

The Language of Music - Part 1

2007-11-08T09:43:00.000-08:00

After teaching one-on-one for more than twenty-five years I have a good understanding of the successes and difficulties people have with learning to play music. Everything I have ever played, studied or taught boils down to some simple facts; and the most basic of these is that music is a language. This is not a new idea to mankind, but it is something I want to point out because its relevancy is often missed.

As in speaking, one communicates with words, in music one communicates with notes and sounds. There are only so many symbols, sounds and words to understand and when you learn them you can speak, read and understand what it’s all about. Then one either develops a small yet functional vocabulary or a large and involved one. And as people learn to speak before learning to read, learning to play music before learning to read music is an efficient first step. (And did you know there are only six little shapes that make up most of written music?)

You could break down the musical language into three categories: melody, harmony and rhythm. Melody is a series of single notes (note: a specific musical sound), Harmony is combinations of notes and Rhythm is the placement of sounds and notes. Besides physical technique and lyrics – that’s all there is to the mechanical fundamentals. The mechanics of music are finite. The creative application is unlimited.

To get more out of your playing, or get re-started if you’ve stopped, you can address your understanding of these elements, increase your vocabulary and clear up any confusions you’ve had. Start by looking up these words in a simple dictionary, as music dictionaries can get extremely involved. Also look up any related words you think of, then take your new understanding and listen to lot’s of music. Within that music find some melody, find some harmony and tap out some rhythms you hear. Get some “ears-on” application.

Speaking of “ears,” you’ve heard of “playing by ear”? This means to hear or conceive sounds and duplicate what they are on your instrument. Some people naturally do this to a certain degree, whereas most people have to work at it. But all this entails is gaining some understanding of the language — the relationships of the sounds to each other.

As the intention behind the words you speak are actually the true communication, when the sounds you play parallel the sounds in your “inner ear” the music is truly alive and meaningful. This is easier to learn then one might think.

Two additional things you can do to increase you musical vocabulary are to: 1) Play single notes on an instrument and match them with your voice, and 2) Create some simple sounds in your head and sing them: try and match what you create in your inner ear with your voice.

These are main entrance points to learning the language of music.

by Marty Buttwinick