Warning; this article may cause self-inspection to make you a better artist!

I believe all of you have a voice and have something to say in your own voice.

In preserving this voice, it must be recorded on some format, and the question arises-What type of recording should be made?

-Do we go all live with all the warts and bumps?

- Do we go somewhat live with the warts and bumps removed, but with some pieces left in that make you cringe but you self rationalize (with the mutual admiration secret society pat on your own back) that the public, WHO ARE NOT MUSICIANS, won’t notice it?, or

-Do you use loops and samples, and/or play all the parts separately so there is no communication at all between the musicians, but the result is good music that is on the beat and in tune?

So where do you go with all of this.

I went to key examples in history for inspiration- Greg’s seminal album “Stick Figures” Urban Legend has it, and Greg confirmed this to me recently, that Stick Figures, with the classic “Charmed Life” on it, was recorded totally live into a 2-track DAT machine. It took Greg 500 hours total (recording, mixing.) to create a record under 80 minutes in length. But what a masterpiece it is! An album comes along like this that raises the bar, shows what Herculean playing can do, and at what height the bar is set. Knowing that it is all live, with no studio tricks or punch ins or overdubs sets the listening experience, especially for Stick Players, at “jaw drop”.

If you knew there were overdubs, I believe you would listen to it differently like the irreverent kid waking away from a New Jersey magic act on the pier waving his arm in a downward fashion saying “aww, they used mirrors!”

So how does one of the greatest funambulists (aerialists/tightrope-walkers) of the
19th century Jean Francois (or Emile) Gravelet, aka Charles Blondin, relate to Stick Figures? His work needed to be seen real time to be appreciated fully and held in awe.

He walked tightrope across Niagra Falls many times This he accomplished, first on 30 June 1859, a number of times, always with different theatric variations: blindfolded, in a sack, trundling a wheelbarrow, on stilts, carrying a man (his manager, Harry Colcord) on his back, sitting down midway while he cooked and ate an omelet and standing on a chair with only one chair leg on the rope.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Blondin

So ask yourself are you a Blondin or are you a Johannes Vermeer? …. Vermeer?

Vermeer would painstakingly paint, revise, paint, and revise until finally he would have a painting for exhibition. Because of his obsessive devotion to making sure the painting was absolutely correct in his vision, he had a limited body of work survive him. Nonetheless, it was the final painting that stood the test of time and what the public knew as the work and what they finally saw.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johannes_Vermeer

Recently I was surprised to find out that an amazing group currently out there whose technicality and perfect playing I admired from close and afar are actually cut and pasted together in ProTools!

I didn’t waive my arm like the kid on the NJ pier, but instead realized that
a seamless performance is a professional performance and if the tools and technology are there to allow you to play “your best”, then isn’t that what the end result justifying the means is all about. Maybe you can’t get the ring on the bottle every time, but they have the YouTube video of you doing it once! After all it took some kind of performance to
create that legendary riff or groove or loop. It didn’t just appear out of a cereal box.

Are you the Herculean throwdown master or the razor blade and tape master? Or are you something in between. It really doesn’t matter, just that the end result has your vision and voice on it and it moves people.

If you are having some difficulty getting off center or just getting back in the saddle, remember you did this once before and you can do it again.

A painter once gave me a book, which helps with the creative process and mental blocks.
It is called “The Artists Way” and is for all creative disciplines, including music.
http://www.amazon.com/Artists-Way-Julia-Cameron/dp/1585421472/ref=pd_rhf_shvl_2

It may help you too.

Some final thoughts on all this. As Greg once told me, “don’t ever play a song out unless you know it cold!” He is absolutely right. As I tell my students and mentees, a CD does NOT come with an excuse label. “Well…. We should have fixed those drums, the vocals are a little hot on the chorus, that was a late hit…” Sage advice I read long ago was if you talk over your demo, stop, pick it up, walk out of the room and mix it or fix it.

Hope this keeps the creative fires burning and helps you understand your own artistry a little better.

Take care,
Dave Brosky

ps. As my uber guitar tech, Ed Needler of Sweetwater Music, told me Dave, music is pitch and time, whereas painting is texture and light. I said, I know but it’s still a good article!

This can be applied to other aspects of life, not just music and performace. Thanks for sharing.....

Hmmmmmmm I'll bite. Good Post.

For me, If I were to only play songs live that I have "down cold" I would never play live,and I never would have played in front of people (to me this is unacceptable). So by necessity I am a warts and all guy. However I often write music which is too complex for local folks to play, or perhaps better put, it's too much to ask of them to learn the pieces. So i will use whatever recording techniques I can to get the music out. I try to keep my parts real on the recordings.

So, i guess I don't fall into either of your categories. In a way I am a child of a lessor God. My memory disabilities make it impossible to learn anything "cold". Yet as you say I have music to get out, so I do. usually alone (folks don't like playing with people who can't learn tunes)

I guess I'm a Van Gogh. I don't let my limitations stop me from making music/art It keeps me humble, and I just hope that what I do moves someone someday.

Brett

Brett, The Van Gogh analogy isn't great given he had one ear and your "ears" are in tip top shape.
Dave, knowing tunes cold, can potentially be uninspiring. Playing music, like your funambulist, walking a tight rope with that "woops" possibility is a great challenge. It pumps the blood, keeps you focused. I would say, have your tools, technique, musical knowledge, theory, fretboard geography, ear, down cold, then walk that tightrope.
And personally, I enjoy the challenge of playing multiple parts without loops. Having been influenced by people like Ben Lacy, Michael Hedges , Tuck Andress and more, I prefer this path of musical arrangement, playing as many parts as possible, keeping a groove, improvising, being expressive and communicating with whoever's listening

Great Post!

Our group is just starting out, so take this with a grain of salt, but I'll bite...

We've found that while our rehearsals are a lot of fun, for some reason we really *are* collectively at out best with a live audience. This flies in the face of what I learned (or was indoctrinated with) that quality performance occurs in the practice room. Surely, as the OP puts it, you must invest the time to put your best effort forward, but there's something else in the mix when you're playing live.

Our first recording effort, in my Drummer's basement, while a good effort, was a bit of a disaster musically (it didn't help that our hackneyed monitoring setup was less than stellar).

Our first "feature" concert is coming up--and we're going to go ahead and track the performance. I have a gut feeling we'll have better material to work with. Of course, we've done a lot of work both individually and in rehearsal since our first recording experience.

Also, some very good thoughts on making a CD of any kind. The quality standard on a CD is *always* much higher than in a live performance. So much so that many larger, complicated productions now simply play along with pre-recorded tracks. I feel the industry has inadvertently "trained" people that "perfect, hi-fidelity" CD sound is what they should expect at a live performance.

To really answer the OP's question, and put my comments in context, we're a jazz-fusion trio, and in just a year of playing we seem to find our best, most risk-taking, (interestingly enough) most in-the-pocket playing occurring in live performance. I suppose you could say from this standpoint we're collectively much more a "Blondin-ish" than "Vermeer-ish." But--there's always a trade-off somewhere--being a fusion group there are instances where we also practice the heck out of a particular riff/chorus/unison part, so that we will always nail it when it comes up in performance.

So, maybe a mix of both, but I think if you spoke with my bandmates I think you'll gather we place a high premium on giving ourselves the collective (but mutually-supported) freedom to "speak our voice" much more as "the spirit moves us," so to speak.

A bit of a "cop-out?" Perhaps for me--I know personally there are certain motives and musical ideas I want to be able to express but may take me a couple years to be able to express them competently. In the short-term, however, one of the goals of our group is to simply have fun playing, so I think the freedom to be creative and have fun grounds us from taking "razor blade and tape master" to the extreme where it is no longer fun.

I was in a clinic once with the Ray Brown Trio, and Jeff Hamilton made a very succinct comment that "sometimes we forget in music, the reason we started playing was to have fun." Very sage advice to a group of impressionable young college musicians who were used to spending countless hours woodshedding in the practice room.

Good one Steve, I forgot about the ear thing .

Getting something down cold is great advice, I just wish I could do it.

So I use my ears 99% of the time. As well as all the theoretical things Steve has mentioned.

But like Dave said none of this really matters, as long as you are true to your musical vision.

As a listener I respond to passion, emotion, musical intelligence, raw energy, I detest auto tune and overproduction. I love listening to Steve and Greg play because it may be "down cold" in a part by part sense, but they both walk the tightrope every tune stretching out and taking chances.

Unlike a real tightrope walker it's ok to fall off every now and again. Your ears, theory and musical sense will get you back on the rope.

Brett

Great topic, Dave,

I absolutely stand by what you said. It's something to strive for.
It's no fun for an audience (or for the performer) to watch someone crash and burn, especially if they paid to see the show, and especially if it happens more than once in a set. I'm not saying you have to play everything perfectly all the time (no one does), but don't try to play something you have a lot of doubts about getting through. Knowing something well enough to take chances is a good benchmark (thanks, Brett).

I crashed and burned on a tune at a bar a couple of weeks ago. Couldn't get in sync with the drummer and we hadn't rehearsed, and it fell apart from there. My fault, not his. I think the best thing to do in a situation like that is stop....and play something else, something you know will make a great impression.

An open mic night (or a YouTube video) is different from a concert. People expect things to be looser. But even there, you're better off if people enjoy your music and don't even notice how "skilled" you are.

There are many ways to get something down well enough for a performance. One is to simplify the piece, get down to basics, and play it with all the musical intent you can muster. Most people would rather hear a soulful and well-executed simpler version of a tune than listen to something "ambitious" with lot of mistakes.

Since I don't perform as often as I used to, I say this as much for myself as for anyone else's benefit (as I get ready to maybe play something new tomorrow night...).

I'm sure there are many who would disagree, but I think we have a responsibility to our art and our audience, NOT to rely on the novelty of playing an unusual instrument.

Focus on the musicality of what you are playing and the technical things will fall into place much more easily. Don't play anything unless you can be really aware of how it sounds, If you're still thinking about fingerings then it's probably not ready.

Best...performance prep...thread...ever!



Greg, you have no idea how encouraging it is to hear such frank comments from someone of your caliber.



Sometimes the desire to "play impressively" overides the more sensible approach to not over-extend--even for "older newbies" like myself. Really good food for anyone prepping for a concert. And honestly, probably good thoughts to keep in mind for practice in general. I mean, we all want to "stretch," but how much more efficient will practice time be if one were to spend the greater portion of time honing the "closer edge" to perfection, as opposed to spending a greater portion of time on the insanely technical?



A-MEN! I'm having a hard time thinking who would disagree with that.



Again, really sage advice. I'll say it again:

Best...performance prep...thread...ever!

Thanks for this lovely thread!

I really like to know what's supposed to happen when I start to play. But, for those who haven't done it, I would you recommend anyone to try at least once, standing up in front of people with no idea whatever of what songs you're about to play or what you're about to play if any one song happens. It's an experience which can produce more of a Salvador Dali effect.

Back in the 70's, here in UK, a high level of amateurism was the norm in bar bands. All the bands had lousy PA systems (anyone remember 4 x 12 columns?) and dodgy valve amps, and it was usually too loud. Some were just kind of freaks (man), who did their own freaky music. Others played known songs in their own style with whatever musicians came to hand. That's where I came in. A friend of mine ran a bar band in Glasgow, Scotland. He and the second guitarist and drummer knew what they were playing, but he didn't believe in rehearsal, so he just asked people along to play to see what happened. You had to fit in where you could and stay out of the way where you couldn't. This is of course much easier if you play a melody instrument, and I played violin, but I'd never played anything but classical and folk tunes till then.

So here we are in the bar - guitars x 2, violin, sax, bass, drums, congas/percussion. Me and the sax player have never seen the band before. First song out is Daydream - yep, recognise that, nice and melodic (hey, but what key is it in?), but we're OK. Next, Summertime Blues, pretty much like the record, but a semitone out. This carries on for a while, through Doctor Hook, Neil Young, some good time songs, then All Along the Watchtower. Just before the last verse, bandleader points at sax player and I and walks to the bar. 5 minutes of white knuckling noodling later he comes back to finish the song. 2 songs later, a guy walks up to the bandleader, says something in his ear, and makes buying drinks motions - it's a request. Sax player and I are expecting a singalong crowd favorite, but the guitar riff from Willie The Pimp by Frank Zappa crashes out. WTF??? So it went all night, ending with a freak out version of a folk song by a local artist, at the climax of which the PA guy maxes the reverb out and it all turns into noize. Crowd goes wild, much to my surprise.

I played with that band for a while, and we never did rehearse. A friend of mine who was a good guitarist discovered he was a better bass player after being asked to play bass live at two hours notice. Some nights it would suddenly all gel, and everyone in the band would just look at each other in astonishment - sometimes it didn't. Pretty much every night, one of the guitarists would pull out some songs we'd never played before.

I won't bore you longer with tales the like of which many of you can tell. The point is, that although I'm not sure you could get away with that now, the experience of 'winging' it puts you right on the spot, and there's a great buzz to be had from making sense of that situation, and some good experience to be got from figuring how best to deal with it when you don't. I hope this doesn't depress the perfectionists too much, but you also quickly find out just how much nonsense you can get away with without the audience noticing

Max