The Booda Velvets

I would like to take a moment to recognize all the Indie musicians out there. Amazingly, 20+ years ago it was not quite as easy to make it as an Indie musician. Luckily, for these folks, the new millennium has brought about many opportunities for these artists to make it big in the music industry without the assistance of a major record label or company. This is possible today because the music promotional ideas out there are limitless.

In case you are not familiar, an "Indie" or independent artists is one that is not affiliated or connected to any major label. There are basically two types of Indie musicians, ones who are waiting to get signed and those who don't care if they ever do. Indie musicians who don't care to be signed generally enjoy the do-it-yourself approach and use the available musician resources.

But why wouldn't every musician want to be signed to a major label? And, are there other ways in figuring out how to promote your CD? Well, times they are a changing…If one is not signed to a record label, they are allowed more creative freedom and don't have to answer to anyone. They pick their songs, they record them at will, they wear what they want and they play where they want. For some musicians, this is the life that they choose. Not everyone feels they need to be tied down to one particular label or company. As they say, to each their own…

There is such a thing as an independent label which are great musician resources. An independent record label operates on its own, without the funding of a larger, major label, traditionally. Then there are the independent labels that are started by established artists but typically are associated with a major label in some sort of way.

Another perk that Indie musicians experience these days, stems directly from technology. Historically, artists depended on major labels for help recording records and distributing them as well. Now, it is possible for Indie musicians to succeed on their own given they have the right talent and a true desire to succeed. It isn't as expensive to record music, make CDs and distribute them online and to the world. Major labels are not the only people who know how to promote your CD.

Doing it yourself in the music industry and succeeding is absolutely within any artist's reach. Hard work, determination and taking advantage of all the available resources out there is exactly the way to do it. It is o.k. if your goal to eventually to be signed but there is also no shame in doing it yourself.

Author: dnb700

Because of the fact that the drummer is the backbone of most bands other musicians rely very heavily on him or her to
provide a strong beat that will keep a song together. A drummer who is off beat, or off tempo, will lead the entire band
astray. Therefore, if the drummer is weak the whole band will be weak.

Since the drummer provides the foundation for the other musicians to follow, the drummer is the anchor of the band.
Being the anchor of the band, the drummer must have confidence.

Confidence is what makes a good drummer a great drummer. When you have confidence in your ability to play and confidence
in your instrument, success for the band is much more likely to occur.

If you are a drummer in a band, then you are the anchor of the band. The other musicians are relying heavily on you to
provide a strong beat that will keep everything together. Other musicians may be able to cover their flaws when playing
their instruments as a group, but not you. Everything you do behind your set will not only be heard, but felt. There is
simply no way to hide or cover up poor drumming skills!

The drummer is vital to a band, and a great drummer can make up somewhat for other musicians who may not be at the same
level of expertise. The reason is because your listeners will notice more of what is in your band's music than what is
NOT in it.

For instance, let's say your guitarist is not real creative. He may play well enough to keep up with the pace of the
song, but as far as adding anything flashy, he's just not able at his current skill level. But, there you are, with your
solid sense of rhythm and timing. That's what people are going to notice! They simply will not notice something that the
guitarist does NOT do.

People who are not musically inclined just want to be moved by the music. They do not evaluate it like musicians do.
Now, if the guitarist seriously flubs something up, then that's a different story all together. Not being creative and
not adding to the music is one thing, but making critical mistakes is another. Musician, or not, people know what is, or
is not, pleasing to the ear.

So, as a drummer, the anchor of the band, be solid, strong and confident. Continue to practice regularly and never be
satisfied with your level of progress.

Source: Free Articles

Autor: ChrisChew

Fronting their own band is a dream of every beginner singer. So how can you front a band and develop your own band's own distinctive style of music and performance? How to at the same time developing your own individually unique singing style? How are you going to be distinguished and get noticed from those thousands of bands playing only cover versions of popular music and imitating their favourite bands and lead singers?

First thing to do is to view as many DVD performances of famous singers fronting their bands from the musical genre you have chosen as the forte of your band's music. Examine how distinctive and different they are from each other. Notice each band playing with their own style and song delivery. Take note of everyone's body language and what signals and vibes the famous bands and singers are sending out.

Let us take a look at some of these singers and bands. Take Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones for example. See how he pouts his lips and struts on stage cockily exuding sensual visuals and confident charisma at the same time. Those body language became his characteristics and singing charisma. In the advertisement world,it is called image branding.

If someone were to name you some popular singers, you will immediately associate a clear mental picture of that singer during a performance. That is how powerful your body language and distinctive branding can be. In otherwords, be different from the crowd by developing your own style of singing and performance.

Just try it. Close your eyes and when someone mentions to you these names, what do you see in your mental picture? Elvis Presley, Boy George, Bono of U2, Kate Bush, Cindy Lauper, Michael Jackson and even The Village People. Get the picture? (pun not intended, grin)

So, you must develop your own distinctive style of singing and stage performance to get noticed and create a brand for your band.

Learn from those excellent singers fronting their own bands. Learn from them how they keep time and rythym when they move on stage? Which action and movement during their performances that drew audience reactions? How do these singers whip their fans into a frenzy? What are the facial expressions at every stage of a song? How do they tell an emotional story from the lyrics of the songs that get people moved?

Learn and borrow some traits from these singers, and then develop them further with your own unique singing style blended in.

Once you have developed your personal distinctive singing style, the next step is to rehearse with your band. Your band must know what you want and this must be communicated before every rehearsal and reinforced. Things like when you want to bring the song into a climax, when to bring it down to tug at audience heartstrings, when to pause to create a dramatic impact…etc

Invest a little moeny in your band by buying some good music sheets so that the band can play together as a team with the same music sheets and scores.If you leave your band members to play by ear, all the band members will interpret the songs in their own way and you would have lost alot of time and energy to get the band to play tightly together.

Therefore you need to work closely with your band members since as a lead singer, you are probably the band leader as well. You then must insist that the band play the keys that you are comfortable to sing in, stick to the musical arrangements and follow the effects of the songs you want to portray.

Once this is done, rehearse until the band and you are inseparable components of the song, then you are there! You are now ready to front a good band as a lead singer, get recognized as a singer and band leader of distinction.

Source: Free Articles

Author: Guitars from Spain

• Guitars normally require very little maintenance. However, a little care in handling and storage will protect your investment for many years to come.

• Never expose your guitar to high temperature and humidity. For example, don't leave your guitar in a hot car or in direct sunlight. Typical heat damage consists of warped soundboards and unglued (detached) bridges.

• Never lean the guitar on furniture or the wall. The guitar is unstable (the lower bout is round) and can easily fall and be damaged. Always store your guitar in a case or on a guitar stand.

• Wash your hands before playing. Dirt and oil will clog and corrode the strings and diminish considerably the sound and life of your strings. To provide best protection use a guitar cover in order to avoid dirt and scratches.

• Handle the guitar only by the neck. Squeezing the top and body will damage the delicate soundboard bracing.

• Wipe your guitar off with a soft cotton or mircofiber cloth after playing. Clean and polish your guitar occasionally with a light polish. Do not use heavy paste waxes as they eventually build up into a thick, vibration muffling coating.

Source: articlesbase.com

Create something out of a recreation you love to do. Didn't you know that you could even earn money online out of the things that interest you most? It may be just a simple collection of stones or outdoor activity done in a regular basis but once you start to share it to the world, there is a big chance that many people will appreciate what you do. Don't think of the criticisms, instead, think of the things that you want to be done in continuing a favorite recreation via web tools.

There are a dozen of fun recreation a person can choose from. It can be done outdoors or indoors; online or offline; in person or not. But the best form of recreation probably would have to come from doing what you love most and then make money out of it. There are many variations of this type done in the internet. A person who loves to collect information can compile it in a blog or website, be an expert on the niche and then make money online. A recreation does not need for you to excrete sweat all the time, sometimes it can be simply by doing what you love most, enjoy it, sit in front of the computer and then market what you know.

After rush hours, when there is long idle time from work to late night peace, many would prefer to lay back, relax and do what they like best at this time of the day – their favorite recreation. But some would prefer doing it differently. The introduction of internet business has made it possible for business enthusiasts to continue working and learning about the different marketing strategies to increase sales online. With this having said, internet marketing training materials are great to back up this kind of passion – even when it is only a simple means to do recreation during the laziest hours of the day.

A great way to start your day is to know that you have limitless chance to do what you like whether it is online or offline. Speaking of online stuff, there are a bunch of things that you can do to make your recreation a bit more interactive, exciting and accessible. For example, jumping in the bandwagon of internet marketing to be able to acquaint yourself with other people who are also in to the same recreation that you dig, chatrooms are good example. It does not end there though. Blogs of the same topic, online organizations and even game simulation of the same category where your favorite recreation belong is an effective way to reach out to more people and enhance what you know about your favorite past time.

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