Ramblings from an Independent Music Artist

Kudos to those of you have Custombucker-equipped Gibson Custom Shop guitars out there and gig without any issues. I had the "pleasure" of sharing the stage a couple weeks ago at a very important gig with some dude who really struggled embarrassingly to rein-in the microphonic feedback from the Custombuckers on his top-end Murphy Lab "aged" blue Custom Shop '64 SG Standard, and it was perplexing to say the least. Most players I've ever ran across who are dumping over $6K on an instrument or piece of equipment generally know what they're getting before buying it. Every spec list on the Custom Shop SG's clearly states they use Custombuckers, and Gibson is pretty clear these are unpotted pickups like the originals on which they're based (which is one of the appeals, in some ways). I didn't realize there were still people out there who don't know that an unpotted humbucker (especially a covered one) can be more prone to squealing under certain...

Has lyrics and chords...still forgets lyrics and chords... On a recent thread I saw, a participant wrote in asking about something most people in a band will have to face at some point or another: how to get rid of a member that is holding you back or robbing you of your enjoyment in general.  He wrote: I am finding myself in a tricky situation. I want to "fire" my singer, but in a way that a bit more delicate. The problem is that he and the drummer seem to be really good friends, and I dont want to loose the drummer. He is a good guy, but cant seem to create any original vocal melodies\lyrics. He has been using the same melody lines for the last 3-4 songs, and parts of the same lyrics for a few songs. One time he accidently sent me some demos from another band he is in, and he is using the same melodies\lyrics for those too. it's like he only can only play one chord on the guitar. Wow. Been there, done that. More times than I care to admit. Since my beginnings in my teen...