Ramblings from an Independent Music Artist

I have always noticed that a lot of my fellow guitarists have wildly varying and sometimes very dismissive, dickish attitudes about a band member most bands cannot exist (or exist AND sound "decent") without: the bass player. Everyone's heard the shitty guitar player jokes about bassists... "What, six strings too much for them?" "What do you call a guitarist who can't play? A bassist!" "How do you reduce wind-drag on a bassist's car? Take the Domino's Pizza sign off the roof!" "What do you throw a drowning bass player? His amp." "Why don't bass players tell blonde jokes? They don't understand them." "What do you call a beautiful woman on a bassist's arm? A tattoo." "What's the difference between a vacuum cleaner and a bassist? The vacuum cleaner has to be plugged in to suck." "How can you tell when the stage is perfectly level? Drool comes out both sides of the bass play...

What's REALLY fueling KLON-gate???  This one's so wacky I had to change up my schedule and post something. In case you haven't been paying attention, Bill Finnegan (under the alias of "KLONLLC") is currently trying to sue Behringer (parent company is Music Tribe) for IP infringement of their on again/off again (i.e. Bill makes one every once in a while when he feels like it or needs a few months rent or something) "legendary" pedal that they call the "Centaur". To catch up the new kids, a little about the Klon Centaur first: The Klon Centaur is an overdrive guitar pedal designed by Bill Finnegan in the 1990s, known for its "transparent and harmonically rich" tone. It was first sold in 1994 and quickly gained popularity for its ability to boost a guitar's signal without significantly altering its core tone. Due to its unique design and limited production, the Klon Centaur became highly sought-after, with used units fetching high p...

Just saw a post on a gear page where a guy was wondering if others shared his anxiety about changing guitar strings until you don't have a choice to, and I for one can relate... Yup. Sometimes I am reluctant because I hate wasting a set of strings that isn't TOTALLY dead (growing up in a lower-income bracket makes one frugal as hell...LOL), and sometimes, as has also been mentioned, I get anxious about knocking something out of whack with a guitar's setup. But sometimes you've just gotta' do it. With my studio-only guitars, I generally always wash my hands before using them, and only really end up needing to change strings if I have a blowout or just want to try something different. I've got a few guitars---my Angus Young SG, my Danelectro Convertible, my Gretsch Double-Jet Firebird and one particular Squier hardtail Strat that for some reason is the most "authentically old school 'Strat'-sounding" of my Strats---which have all had the same str...

  You've probably already read my previous blog where I explained the most recent incident which got me thinking about the importance of determining what type of leadership you want in your band, and why it's important to be upfront about your expectations, along with making sure your bandmates do the same. Which brings us to the concept of "democracy" in a band. As bad as it sounds, I have to admit that years ago when I went from being a control-freak about my band at the time (mind you, I was a very young adult at the time), and let things become more "democratic", that's when progress started to halt, the gigs started waning and the group lost cohesion in some ways. So sometimes there's truth in the need for someone spearheading the direction and providing the motivation to a group. Whether it was in my first "serious" punk band in high school, or my long-running alt-country/Americana outfit that followed, in both instances I can look ba...

One constant source of disdain and struggle with most bands who don't have their shit together is:  just who is in charge of the band? Often, it depends who you ask. A lot of crowds misinterpret a vocalist/frontperson as the band's leader, while others may think the band follows the flashy lead guitar player who seems to exude more confidence/cockiness than the others. In reality, it's different for every band, and in many cases I've seen (or even been involved with), even the band members themselves may be confused about who's actually calling the shots. Who really IS in charge? Does ANYONE really need to be the "leader"? How do you pick this leader ? What happens when the power goes to their head or they do not efficiently handle the responsibilities, or you find yourself working as a yes-man for an egomaniacal narcissist? Well, let's see what I've learned over the years... First off, you've probably asked yourself a time or two whether your ...

  Recently I've had the concept of "band hierarchies" weighing on my soul, and I'm going to do a couple different blogs next go around addressing that very subject. But let me first explain why this subject is so relevant and important to me at this particular juncture, and provide a "case study". Maybe you can relate, or maybe you'll just pity me. Or at the very least have a laugh at my expense for having put myself into such a ridiculous position of dealing with yet another overly-dramatic scenario that could've been avoided with the easiest word in any language: "no". Towards the end of 2024, I was approached by a certain "songsmith"---okay, I just have to stop it there and say, that has to be hands-down one of the goofiest, cringiest, most pompous and self-absorbed, nonsensical, supercilious and self-appointed "titles" I've ever heard of. It might be amusing if used in a tongue-in-cheek fashion, but when it's...