6 Tricks to Getting Your Best Performance

I’ve been working hard to tweak my practice technique to prep myself better for the studio. Here are some ways I've found to get better at prepping yourself for recording:

1. Start slow. I’ve been starting playing my music at a speed that is just too fast to be accurate. When I slowed down my playing, it was amazing how the songs didn’t have as many mistakes “baked in” that I had to fix later.

2. Shoot for high accuracy from the beginning. Don’t settle for sloppy playing, even when you’re first working it up. Personally, I’m shooting for about 95% accuracy after the first couple of runs, and if I’m not at that level, I’m slowing it down.

3. Work the trouble spots. Don’t play through the whole song every time you practice. Spend some time working out the trouble spots early, and you’ll save tons of time in the long-run. 

4. Track your speeds. Write down each practice what your speed is on your song (use a metronome). Remember, accuracy is more important than speed.

5. Record yourself. Use an iPhone or a cheap recorder. If it makes you take it more seriously, post your recording to Facebook. Just remember: it’s more about practicing recording than actually making high-quality recordings of yourself.

6. Practice concentrating. It sounds simple, but I realized that I wasn’t “grooving” my performance technique be fully concentrating during practices. Also, I was practicing in a different state of mind than I was performing in, which means I wasn't really preparing for performance correctly.

Start trying to get yourself in the same frame of mind while practicing as you are when you're  performing. It may leave you a bit more fatigued at the end of practice sessions at first, but ultimately it’ll build what you need to play consistently.

7 Ways to Make Your Music Gear Invisible

We own music equipment to serve a means, not to be an end in itself. Here are 7 ways to make your performances more about your music and less about fiddling with your equipment:

 • Practice pressing buttons. The quicker you are at getting the sound you want, the less you have to worry about twisting knobs during the performance.

• Pre-prep everything.  Don't wait to the last second to put together your equipment – test everything at home, so it's not a distraction at the venue.

• Buy intiutive equipment . If your live rig is difficult to work with, get rid of it. Speed is everything when you're making on the fly tweaks.

 • Buy quality equipment. Settling for cheap may be easier in the short term, but paying a few extra dollars for something that won't constantly need fixing saves time and a lot of headaches.

• Don't switch equipment too often. It's tempting to always buy the latest and greatest, but having equipment on stage that you're comfortable with is often more important than having all the latest bells and whistles.

 • Practice using your equipment at home. Don't just program at home – set up your equipment just like you'll be using it at the venue, and practice with it frequently. 

• Simplify, simplify. The fewer cables, software instruments, and keyboards you have on stage, the less likely you are to have a problem with one of them.

Mainstage Mondays- Assigning Midi Controllers to Mainstage 3’s Front Panel

As many of you know, I’m an avid fan of Mainstage 3 for live use- if you haven’t bought a copy yet, be sure to pick one up for $29.99 on the Mac App Store. (note: I am not compensated in any way for recommending Mainstage. It’s just that great.) 

1. Open Mainstage. Select a project you’d like to use. 

2. Make sure that you’ve connected your midi controller (you should see midi CC numbers coming in on the top dash of Mainstage if it’s properly connected)

3. Click on the button in the RH corner of the screen labeled “Assign and Map”.

4. Click on the on-screen control you’d like to map to your midi controller (note: if you want to make concert level maps that apply no matter which preset you select, click on the folder icon in the LH corner of the screen first, then begin mapping.) 

5. Move/push the controller you’d like to use. It should now be mapped. 

6. Repeat. 

Important: if you’re using “smart” controls, you’ll need to map the midi controllers for each patch to control the smart panel. 

3 Reasons Why You Should Sing Harmony (even if your voice sucks)

I love singing, although I'm not what I'd call good at it- I spent some time singing in a band, and I've just recently been asked to sing background vocals at some of the shows I've been playing lately.

I've realized that not only do almost any form of background vocal help in a live setting, it also has big benefits for me, as well. Here's why you should consider singing at your next sideman gig:

1. Value Added

Band leaders love musicians that can sing as well as play an instrument, and will often think of you first next time they need to hire for a show, if they know you've got the ability to add something your competition can't.

2. Better playing

I know- how can you play and sing at the same time, and not be worse as an instrumentalist? It's not so much that you're going to improve your chops, but you'll be less tempted to avoid the cardinal sin of overplaying. Since you'll be forced to simplify your riffs during times when the singer is singing, you'll naturally fit into the mix much better, and not distract from the main focus of the music- the melody.

3. Less boring

If you're not overplaying, you're probably going to get really bored during sections of each song when you don't play. Singing is a great way to spice things up a bit.