Claude Thomas Freestyle Music Blog

By Dennis Albro

Careers in the music industry include: artists, engineers, producers, management and other behind-the-scenes people who are in the business of capturing, recreating and marketing sound.

These professionals are experts in many fields such as; acoustics, electronics, production, broadcast media, multimedia, marketing and business. These careers focus on turning a creative spark into a final product that in the music industry means a hit record.

THE ARTIST The overall quality of a recording begins and ends with the artist. Careers as a recording artist have several ingredients that drive the industry; charisma, technique, emotion and the ability to command an audience. A carefully planned and well-produced recording will act as a framework to showcase the talent and soul of the artist.

THE PRODUCER Of all the careers in the music industry, the producer’s job is one of the most important. Primarily, the producer helps the artist and record company create the best possible recorded performance and a final product for the buying public. This involves guiding the artist through the recording process, including; controlling the finances, selection of songs, and maintaining the focus on the artist’s vision.

STUDIO MUSICIANS & ARRANGERS Other examples of careers in the music industry are found in studio musicians, back-up singers and arrangers. Often times the services of these professionals and sometimes even entire orchestras are called in to provide richness and depth to the performance of the artist or vocalist.

ENGINEER One of the most technical careers of the music industry is the job of the engineer. Through the use of recording technology, the engineer must be able to express the artist’s talent and the producer’s concepts. Actually the job of the engineer is more of an art form, there are no magic formulas, the process is subjective in nature and it relies on the tastes and experience of those involved. Simply put, the engineer uses their artful knowledge of recording media technology to produce the best possible sound, taking into account the intended customer and media used for sound recreation.

ASSISTANT ENGINEERS An entry-level position for an individual interested in careers in the music industry, specifically that of an engineer, is an ‘in-training’ or Assistant Engineer. Assistant Engineer’s might assist in the placement of microphones and headphones, run the tape machines, help with session documentation and maybe perform rough mixes and balance settings on the recording boards.

MAINTENANCE ENGINEERS The Maintenance Engineers make sure that the studio equipment is in top condition, regularly aligned and repaired when necessary. Large studios may employ a full-time maintenance engineer, but smaller studios often use the services of free-lance engineers and technical service companies.

MASTERING ENGINEERS The Mastering Engineer tweaks the final version of the recording in order to present the “master” recording with the best possible sound for marketing purposes.

STUDIO MANAGEMENT and the SUPPORT TEAM Additionally, there are other careers in the music industry that are support positions behind the scenes:

· Studio Management, this person manages the people in the studio supervising the bookings, accounting and marketing.

· Bookings Manager, this person keeps track of the schedule of studio usage and billing.

· Support Staff, the assistants that keep everyone happy and everything running smoothly.

ARTIST MANAGEMENT, MARKETING, DJ’s, INSTALLERS, DESIGNERS, ETC. The following is a partial list of other careers in the music industry:

· Artist Management

· Artist Booking Agents

· A & R (artist & repertoire)

· Manufacturing of product

· Marketing of product

· Distribution of product

· Web Development

· Costume and Wardrobe Design

· Graphic Arts & Layout

· Tour Management

· Live Sound & Lighting Technicians

By Bob Molton

Every musician has his or her ups and downs from time to time. There are a few easy steps to help get you back on track and keep you moving forward towards your musical goals.

Like in the fitness world, it’s a mental game. There are times you’ll just get flat out get bored with your playing. The cause is mental starvation, and lack of learning new information to move forward. The truth is, it’s work! For some people learning new things means that they have to apply themselves and that takes effort. You have to want it. But the rewards are well worth it.

All the knowledge in the world is useless if you can’t get yourself to apply it. What’s the difference between someone who knows what to do and some who does what they know? When you notice yourself getting bogged down from the dreaded guitar players rut, it becomes difficult to practice and enjoy it.

Why is it that some days you just don’t have the motivation to pick up a guitar? Why do you practice guitar for weeks and then all of the sudden quit? These things happen due to the lack of effective goal setting, and information starvation! You need to feed your starving mind.

This applies not only to music, but also with everything in life. I have used it for years to achieve my goals, especially within my musical career. Your mindset can be related similarly to a guided missile or torpedo heading for a target. You need to be laser focused on that target or goal.

Lets talk about these musical goals. Many people have never considered setting their musical goals. Usually because they didn’t know they should.

* What are your musical goals?
* How will you organize them?
* How far do you want to go with your guitar playing?
* Are you trying to sound and play like one of your favorite guitarists?
* Are you attempting to play really difficult songs?
* Do you want to learn proper theory?

Always start with the end goal in mind, and work backwards to bridge the gap. This helps you clearly see how to bridge the gap, rather than blindly cutting a path forward without a pre-determined destination.

Maybe it would be easier for you if you tell yourself yes; I am in a musical rut. Now what do I need to do to get beyond this. You’ll need to be doing several different things. Most of the time when you are in a rut it is good to go back to some of the basics. Left hand Dexterity, Right hand picking techniques, practicing scales, etc… These are all small goals you can set!

The most common reason people fail, is they don’t set solid Goals and make themselves accountable for it. Achieving the smallest goals, can give you the drive you need to set bigger ones and see them through. A journey of a thousand miles starts with one footstep.

REMEMBER: There is a difference between knowing what to do, and doing what you know. You must take action to get a reaction.

Musical theory can be a confusing subject. Getting started is the most important task. It’s always good to find an instructor or instructional video to help explain some things to you. You’ll find some very useful instructional videos at Top Fuel Guitar.

However, learning the theory is only half the battle. The far greater challenge for most musicians is applying the knowledge and taking action. There is a big difference between knowing what to do, and doing what you know. By setting these goals, you’re developing the building blocks needed to build your career upon.

You may think you’re in control of your daily behaviors, but it’s your subconscious mind that tells you weather you should or shouldn’t do these important things.

If you know what you need to do and just can’t seem to get yourself to do it, you’ve probably been sending negative or conflicting messages to your subconscious mind. This means you may need to re-program your subconscious. If not, you become the victim of negative habits. It all starts with written goals and following through with them!

Your subconscious mind is much like your computer. The subconscious mind does not think for itself. Whatever information you send to your subconscious it is assumed to be true. It doesn’t matter if the data is really true or not the subconscious accepts it and carries out the programming you have entered into it. This is really powerful stuff.

By Zack Wentz

So what’s the secret to learning to play the guitar super fast? Well, there really is no secret; you just practice a lot… Now before you run off hear me out; there are some things that you can do to speed up the process and make yourself an all around better guitarist.

First things first, you’re going to need to memorize your keys, frets and be able to read notes which may seem hard in the beginning but you’ll catch on quickly.

The next thing you want to work on is your finger placements… It may take a little while for your finger to get the right dexterity; some of the positions are hard when you’re just a beginner so work each day on getting your hands on the chords perfect. You don’t want to start sloppy because it may carry over even when you become experienced.

Now you want to start off slowly when you first start if you have an electric guitar because if your fingers are not used to the metal, you could end up getting some painful blisters which will definitely take away from your practice time.

By Mike Edward

Reading Guitar tabs can teach you great versatility in your guitar playing. Don’t take guitar tabs for granted, even if you have been used to playing from guitar chords online. Instead, keep those guitar tab sites on bookmark and go back to them after you have perfected your guitar tab reading.

So how do you read guitar tabs? This task is such an easy one, for as long as you have the patience to learn and perfect it as time goes by. Here are some of the basics that you need to know:

Those horizintal lines

Those horizontal lines that you see are somewhat likely in principle to the solfeggio of a piano piece. They key or note to play is indicated in the lines, however, read differently. So, there are six horizontal lines in a guitar tablature. Each line, representing the strings/keys: E, B, G, D, A, E, with the first E in the topmost line, and the last E in the bottom line. These six keys are you guide on what string to pluck.

The numbers

You will see that there are numbers written over these lines. These numbers are the frets that you will play a certain key at. So do not be confused, these are not the string number themselves but rather the fret to play a note at.

Playing them together

Playing these numbers and lines together is the basic principle of guitar tab reading and playing. For example, you see a number 6 on the A line, it means that you have play the A string of the 6th fret. This is the way that you can start to read certain single notes. Playing them together and faster, will require lots of practice and determination.

By Mike Edward

Learning to play guitar from the internet has a lot of advantages. By just navigating a webpage, you can already access tons of information, chords, ultimate guitar tips and tutorial videos on guitar playing. You can even find online guitar tuner and chord finder sites where people can download and print guitar chords.

One of the good things about online guitar lesson is that it’s mostly being offered for free or would only cost you a few bucks for the entire course. Free ebooks on learning to play guitar are readily available in the internet. It’s a good option since hiring the service of a private guitar tutor is far more expensive than opting for an internet guitar tutorial.

Online guitar lesson is also interactive so the person can have an enjoyable learning experience. There are some ultimate guitar sites that provide tools such as interactive chord dictionary and chart that is very helpful for beginners who want to memorize the chords faster and effectively. Other courses also come with downloadable software and multimedia tutorials complete with step-by-step instructions on the how to play guitar, along with its fundamentals and other methods. Not only that, interestingly, you can also learn to learn the techniques and styles in guitar playing from your favorite musicians or bands like Bryan Adams and the Red Hot Chili Peppers.