There are a variety of different ways to learn how to play bass guitar and the varieties all can have an impact on how you learn. For instance, if you wish to play blues music bass lessons for blues music would be really focused on your style but bass lessons can be taken for all styles, genres and levels.

There are even differences in wanting to be solo musician playing around the house for fun and playing in a band which will cause variations in how you should learn your new instrument. You may wish to concentrate on bass scales or perhaps you just want to help the drums anchor the sound. It may sound like a tough choice if you are unaware of what style you want to learn but it may help you in the long run.

If you want to become an excellent bass guitarist then you should always strive to learn new and interesting skills on your instrument. It is clearly not enough to know how to play your favorite instrument; you should always be looking to find new techniques and ways of playing.

Learn blues bass guitar and rock the house

You may prefer a particular style of music over many others and when you begin learning a new instrument but perhaps over time, you will develop a fondness for other styles or genres. This means that in the future you may feel the benefits from experiencing some different styles of playing bass guitar in your development period. This means that bass lessons can be invaluable at any stage of your playing career as there is always time to learn new skills and styles. People should always try to evolve and develop new skills and even their musical preferences can change over time. This is where learning styles like bass scales can open up a whole new style of playing. A person should always try to keep an open mind when it comes to learning different skills and styles.

Of course, no matter how many new skills and tricks you pick up, you should never forget about the basic either. A bass guitarist who is unable to play the basic styles and techniques will be found out very quickly and they will find it difficult to join bands or jam with other musicians. Always remember that no matter what new skills you pick up along the way you need to be able to play the basics.

Blues bass guitar can be fun.

At any point, you don’t know when you will be asked to join in with other musicians or perhaps help out other bands at short notice. Whether having this flexibility helps makes you popular at or just enables you to have some fun and good times, having a variety of skills is a great talent to have. Having a range of bass lessons can make a massive difference to your skill levels so if you want to become one of the best bass players in your area, you know what you have to do. Whether you want to learn flashy new skills or maybe even just learn about bass scales, it’s possible to do everything you could have ever wanted.

There is a great number of different skills involved with playing the bass guitar that it would be nigh on impossible to master everyone but having fun is surely the most important issue.

The ‘trois Gnossiennes’ (1890) is a set of dance-like pieces of similar character, like the earlier composed ‘trois Sarabandes’ (1887) and ‘trois Gymnopédies’ (1888). The ‘trois Gnossiennes’ were first published by Satie as a set through Rouart, Lerolle & Cie. in 1913.

The Gnossiennes continue in the minimalist style of the Gymnopédies but add ornaments that give the pieces a destinctly oriental feel. Although the pieces are obviously composed in a 4/4 time signature, Satie did not indicate it in the score. He also omitted barlines, leaving one big “bar” for the entire piece. This gives the impression of great freedom for the pianist. The comments written above the score, like ‘Du bout de la pensée’ (from the tip of the thought) and ‘Postulez en vous même’ (wonder about yourself) also give much room for interpretation. This has proven to be true since there are few pieces in piano literature that have been interpretated in such diverse ways as the Gnossiennes.

The name ‘Gnossiennes’ can be explained in multiple ways. The ancient Greek word for ‘knowledge’ is ‘gnosis’. Gnosticism was the name of a religious-philosophical belief which has its origins in Greek philosophy as well as early Christian and Jewish Apocalyptic thoughts. In this belief ‘Gnosis’ stands for ‘True knowledge’, which is supposed to lead man to true emancipation. Gnosticism also played a great role in the beliefs of Joséphin Péladan’s (1859-1918) ‘Rose et croix’ sect. Satie’s collaboration with Péladan led him to take an interest in partly-heretical views. It is possible that the title of these works is an hommage to gnosticism.

The most common explanation however is that the title refers to the ritual dances performed by the inhabitants of the island of Crete, with its capitol city Knossos, famous in Greek mythology for the story of its labyrinth, Theseus and the minotaur. In 1890 Crete was in the news because of archeological excavations. Other works by Satie from the same period were named after dances as well. Namely the ‘Sarabande’, a dance which was first introduced in Portugal in 1586 and the ‘Gymnopédie’ which has its origins in ancient Sparta. Even so, it is very unlikely that Satie, a member of the ‘Rose et croix’ from 1891 to 1892, was unaware of the gnosticism relation when the second Gnossienne was first publicly performed in 1893.

In 1967 french composer Robert Caby (1905-1992) revealed many of Satie’s posthumous and often untitled works, taken from sketchbooks and manuscripts. He named three of these pieces Gnossienne. These became Gnossienne 4, 5 and 6 respectively. The piece known as the fourth Gnossienne was composed in 1891, the fifth in 1889 and the sixth in 1897. These pieces were first published in 1968 by ed. Salabert.

I thought about writing this post on band promotion because I often hear new bands and struggling musicians wishing they got more paying gigs. Getting a paying gig is good, I mean… you spend a lot of time, energy and even money on getting your act together.. rehearsing, traveling to rehearsals and gigs (gas can be a pain if you travel by car), buying your gear, etc. But getting paid gigs for new acts can be very difficult.

While I believe it is great to get paid, I don’t mean to say you should think of a band as a business. What I am saying is, it would be practical to at least have your costs covered.

Of course, that would depend on you and your reasons why you are in a band in the first place.

Some bands want to play; love to play; feel that playing and getting their music out there is the best compensation there is.. and the return of their investment in effort, time and money is that opportunity to get up there and PLAY. There are also others who work towards a long term goal like building their own following and getting their music across to them.

The reasons why you do it, pretty much sums it up.

But, if you wanted to get paying gigs, here are a few things you can do.

1. Work on Your Product

Once in a while I come across a client who struggles with promoting their product or service, and put in a lot of effort only to get minimal results. The main reason is, they have not been able to accurately develop, define and refine their product, which is why aggressively promoting something mediocre will always yield mediocre results.

So what is your product? The band, and your music. The key question is how do you set yourself apart from the rest. What is it you do that is unique, or what is it that you can do better than everybody else?

“What do you want people to remember and LIKE you for?”

2. Define Your Music/Repertoire

Repertoire defines what type of band you are. It also defines who your audience is. I believe writing and recording original material is great because by having your own music you create an asset that others do not have. It is that that final sum of a collaborative creative effort that brands your band. BUT, does not guarantee success, since for your band to be successfully recognized for your music, you would first need to attract an audience that gets to hear and appreciate it.

On the same note, being a cover band does not mean you cannot get paying gigs. There are a lot of cover bands that get paid well for small bar gigs or even major events.

What it comes down to is the novelty of the band, and your draw. Novelty is that something about you that people will want to come see; and your draw is the size of the crowd you can gather at your gigs.

3. Market Yourself

You would need to sell yourself to people who you believe would appreciate your band and what you have to offer. There are basically two types of people you want to market to; there are the people who you want coming to your gigs and appreciating your music, and the people who are in a position to hire you for gigs.

This can actually be the classic “the chicken or the egg scenario”, where you actually grow your audience and get more exposure by being playing more gigs, but to get more gigs you got to get invited or hired by people who have a hand in making gigs happen.

But it need not be complicated. You just have to do both at the same time.

Networking is key. The more people you get to meet, the more contacts you establish, the closer you get to your goal.

Ways to Network.

a. Use the Internet, put up a website that tells people about you and your music. Use social networking sites like Twitter, Facebook, MySpace to build a network. Use media sites like YouTube, MetaCafe and DailyMotion to spread your music and build a list of followers/subscribers.

Always mention these sites during gigs; when you talk to other people about your gigs, during shows, and include them on printed materials such as stage back drops, fliers, calling cards, etc.

Make people WANT to go to your site by offering them some sort of benefit they get by going, for instance.. you can tell them that they can listen to a live-stream of your music on your site, download your music from your site (if you allow), or tell them you give away free merchandise like shirts on occasion and mechanics on how to get free stuff are on your website.

b. Print business cards, or calling cards. That way you are able to hand people you meet something that they can refer to when they need to contact you or if they refer you to other people who might need you for gigs. A business card says a lot of things about you, it pretty much says, you mean business, you got it together, and your can be relied upon to deliver if contacted for a gig. It creates a good impression about your band.

c. Do quick sets at small parties that you are already there to attend in the first place. Parties or gatherings are a great way to build up a following. This grassroots approach can lead to viral promotion. Never underestimate the power of word of mouth. If you know that a friend is putting together a party, offer to do a few songs. Let’s face it, being in a band is cool, that may be one of the top reasons you even started one.. so don’t wait for an opportunity to play fall right on your lap, you create your opportunities.

d. If you are not that established, volunteer to front for other bands who are friends of yours AND are established. Established bands typically have a huge following, grab the chance to get yourself in front of that audience, their audience. You might not get paid for this, but it is an investment that will yield long term benefits. Through this opportunity, you show people what you can do, tell people about your website or where you are online, you can hand out business cards and talk with people in the audience or show promoters.

e. Find radio stations that play material from unsigned bands. Getting your music played on a radio station is one of the most difficult things to get done. You will be turned down by a few, but you cannot let that setback stop you from being persistent and trying them again later or trying to find other stations that will play your music. If you are in college, get your music on your campus radio station, if your university has one. That said, I personally found it a lot easier to market your band and network when in college, it was so easy because in college you meet a lot of new people all the time, and get invited to a lot of parties and events.

If your music does get airplay and attention, your band WILL get attention.

4. Management / Representation

You have to have a manager. An authority figure who you trust and count on to work for nothing less than the success and well being of the band.

A manager should be a tenacious businessman. He is a negotiator, understands marketing, and most importantly he believes in the product he is entrusted with. His main goal is to sustain and develop further the product he manages.

Having a manager can have many advantages, and one of the things I see managers being able to do that bands that manage themselves cannot, is be objective. The manager sees something that individual members in a band do not see, this is especially true when some members of the band develop egos that cloud their judgment. Members have a tendency to get tunnel vision and might not respond well to other people’s opinions that may not be flattering, a manager knows if criticisms are valid and take these not emotionally but objectively.

A manager is both a member of the group and outsider; a member because he works with the group to achieve their goals. He is an outsider who can make rational decisions and even be critical of the group if it fails to deliver what their audience expects.

Musicians can sometimes be the most stubborn of people, and the least receptive to criticism, and a trusted opinion from an authority figure can help the band work to better the product. Remember that the manager is above all a businessman, and he runs the band because it is “profitable”… the easier to market a band, the more money it makes, the more money the manager makes as well.

Managers should also be very aggressive and persistent, a friend of mine (a manager for a huge act) once told me a story about how she approached bar after bar only to get denied each and every time and was given all sorts of reasons and excuses. She never gave up, and did not give up on her band… today that band is a major recording artist… and actually they have been big for some time now.

So, if you are a new band that needs to promote yourself and get more gigs, and hopefully paying gigs…

- you have to be a band that can draw an audience

- you have the ability to make people who catch your gigs, like you or your music enough to want to be in touch with you so they know where to go for your next gig

- you have to build your reputation and brand yourself and your music

- you have be aggressive and get gigs and not simply wait for them, and if you are able to successfully do this and your band becomes successful, the offers will actually start coming to you

- you have to have someone.. a manager, who takes care of business and does this well, so that you are left to do what you do best which is put on a good show or create music that your audience appreciates.. as a performer it might be best to not worry about anything and let the manager do that worrying.. all you need to think about or focus on is having a good show or having a good time on stage.

In days gone by the guitar was a quiet, well behaved little instrument. In the nineteen thirties in America, you could barely here it in swing bands trying not to be drowned out by drums and horns. Sadly, it was fighting a losing battle. The guitar in acoustic form simply lacked the design dynamics to make it an instrument that was loud enough to be prominent in a full band situation.

All this was to change in Los Angeles, where it is said that George Beauchamp invented the first crude electric guitar. Hawaiian music, which he performed, is credited as the inspiration for the electric guitar. This is due to the fact that in Hawaiian music, the guitar is primarily responsible for melody. The sound of this humble instrument needed to be amplified.

The first electric guitar, as with most groundbreaking innovations, was met with some criticism. It quickly became apparent however that a new domain was created that allowed for guitarists to express their own unique abilities and style. The selling point of those early, crude guitars was simple… volume. Guitarist were now empowered to choose creative melodic lines as opposed to only strumming rhythm. Suddenly music was heard that showcased a new featured voice. The guitar was no longer satisfied with its obscure place in the band.

The design of the guitar was forced to evolve over time. The hollow sound chamber was prone to feedback. With the invention of guitar pickups, the next natural step in the electric guitars evolutionary process was the creation of the solid body electric. The progression was swift. The first mass produced solid body electric (the Telecaster) was birthed in 1950, courtesy of Leo Fender. It was called the broadcaster at first, but the company was forced to change the name because it was already in use by another. The popular Les Paul appeared in 1952 due to a collaboration between the Gibson company and guitarist, Les Paul. In 1954, Fender introduced the legendary Stratocaster, and the rest as they say…was history. These instruments started finding their way into the hands skillful artists who would amaze the world with their technical proficiency. The age of the guitar hero and the mind-blowing guitar solo had dawned.

The emergence of players like Chuck Berry, Jimmy Page, Jimmy Hendrix, Eric Clapton and Van Halen would revolutionise the world of music forever. These and other iconic guitarists would inspire generations of young musicians who would change the face of popular music as they themselves had done. With electric guitars being affordable and easily accessible, most every boy (or girl) could mimic the techniques of their idols and propel this musical revolution into the future. The electric guitar had burst onto the scene, and it was clear that it would not be leaving any time soon.

Music is a business. You have to decide how seriously you want to pursue your personal enjoyment versus making money. This is not to say that you can’t have both and sometimes if you plan carefully you can have a rewarding experience in every way.

Many of you have played music on different levels and it’s good to talk to other musicians to get ideas and learn from their experience. Some musicians are happy to rehearse together only, some are happy to do cover songs and others write and play original content and go for the big time. No matter what you decide, the planning of your endeavor is a most often ignored and important part of your success.

DEALING WITH CHANGE AND KEYS TO SUCCESS

I think it might be a tie between the number of bands I’ve been with and the number of cars I’ve owned, especially when I was younger. Playing music can be very frustrating. There may be times in your life when you will participate more and sometimes less. Keep at it! Music keeps you young and alive.

Change is all about being adaptable. Music styles, Band Members, Gigs, and most of all – you change. Keep you eye on the prize – playing as often and for as long as you can.

Don’t get locked into the same old music. Some songs are treasures and you will want to play them forever. Put some new stuff in there every once in a while to challenge yourself and keep things fresh. There is nothing more frustrating to hear a good band, and years later they are doing 80% of the same old stuff. If you have old hit songs that may be the exception. Don’t be afraid to do original music. Economic times are tough. People want to enjoy themselves when spending their money listening to music. Give them your all.

Circumstances cause changes in band membership. The band will usually be different when a member is replaced. In one band we lost our keyboard player and went on without one. We wound up with a tighter sound, more gigs, and more money. Pick average musicians you can get along with rather than superstars who want to run the entire show. After auditioning replacements, talk about what you have to change. You new guitar player might not be the soloist your old one was but maybe he can sing better and open up more avenues of songs for you to do. If you get a chance, read “Who Moved My Cheese” by Spencer Johnson, MD.

Music is all about entertainment. I am not suggesting you get a monkey and organ grinder. Act like you have an interest in what’s going on. Have confidence. You’re probably much better than you think. If your band makes mistakes on stage (I call them clams), don’t turn around and look at the guy on stage like he just wet his pants. If your whole band screws up a song, keep going or restart and make a joke of it to the audience.

“Dead Air” is your biggest enemy. Don’t let time go by without communicating to the audience. I played in “show” bands where your every move and words were rehearsed. I think I would have rather worked at the steel plant. A natural, honest, and upbeat presentation will keep your audiences attention until the next tune.

Communicate with each other on stage. Hand signals or a few words can serve as a reminder for stops, endings, dynamics, and a variety of things. Speaking of dynamics (getting louder or softer is a general definition of dynamics), they can make or break you. Music with a constant loud or soft approach has little feeling. Build your songs and make great dynamic endings. If you are doing covers, don’t be afraid to change things. Make each song your own.

Right now I have been in a great band for over two years. We enjoy rehearsal, gigs, and have tons of fun with oldies, blues, and a little country. I hope whatever your musical experience is, that you make it fun too.

Just like any other band these musical icons experience a lot of obstacles before they achieved there legendary status. Starting a band requires a lot of effort and requires a lot of luck. Luck, in a sense that choosing band members does not come easy as anyone would like to think. Even though the Beatles had paved the way for rock and roll music to be appreciated by English listeners, pop culture was still the dominant music that Britons mostly listens. For a starting band like Led Zeppelin they were facing insurmountable odds. Forming a band was hard enough they needed a lot of patience to perform countless gigs in order to get noticed by a music company.

Finally, the band was given their chance. In 1968 the band managed to get the attention of the music industry. There album was finally was set to be released. In 1969 when the album was released it was a hit. It was not surprising because their song offers so much influence. Their music was a blend of blues, pop, rock and many more. They captured the heart of not only Britons but also Americans as well. There concert tours was a sure hit that was why Atlantics Records investment did not go to waste. They had a signing of 200,000 dollars which was at that time the biggest ever made in history in the music industry. The record company did expect that the band would be popular but not to this extent. Concert auditoriums were always full and tickets were always sold out.

Getting a good phone card for a one-time event like that is very easy – these are the most popular types of calling cards around; in general, every popular company offers at least one deal on short-term calling cards that can allow you to make a good deal of phone calls without having to worry about hefty charges – for a one-time fee, you’re getting access to lots of calling minutes!

Of course, phone cards sometimes come with good conditions on their contracts for people who’d like to keep the card and use it later on when the need arises again – this is a perfectly valid option with many providers of calling cards, so you should find a card of this type to be a mostly good deal if you have plans to call many more such meetings for your favorite concerts later on.

The best thing to look for in a situation like this is a calling card with free calling plans on it – these can vary from provider to provider, but as a general rule, if used right they’re highly beneficial – a lot more than signing up for a regular contract. An important thing to keep in mind at all times is that all band members should be using the same type of card (this is a clause with most contracts, at least). Otherwise, you won’t be able to get the benefits of free calling and you’d be defeating the whole purpose of getting your band fitted with their calling cards.

It can be very convenient to help you organize your relationships with your managers, fans, etc – you can easily dedicate the phone line that the calling card provides for band-related purposes, and know that any incoming call on that line is an important one that should be taken ASAP.