Music People: Fun

Dang Joel, back at it again with another blog post!

This will be my other point about the importance of the people that you play music with. My first point will be below this one if you want to check it out. It was about the skill of those you play with. This will take a different angle from that, which will be picking musicians you have fun being around. That’s why playing with friends can be so much fun.

The same with this post as the one before, I have played with great musicians who were super serious about the whole process and I’ve played with okay musicians who were lighthearted and just enjoyed playing with other people. The latter was much more fun, in case you couldn’t tell what I was going to say.

This is not to say that I haven’t played with great musicians who were fun to play with. I’ve played with many people like that, but to find musicians that are amazing, fun, and like the same genres as you can be pretty tricky. Where I’m from (a small town in Louisiana in case you didn’t know), it can be pretty hard to find people who like playing metal and are good at it, considering this society is dominated by mostly country.

But anyway, look for people that you enjoy playing with, and that will boost your morale and desire to play music! This is probably one of the most important things to keep you going in my opinion. Get your crew together and have some jam sessions!

Keep on rocking!

Joel Miller

Music People: Talent

Hey guys. It’s been a while since I’ve posted, and in that time, I’ve learned and remembered some things about playing with people that may help someone out there in their musical journey. My first thought about playing with people and how that influences your experience in music is that how well the musicians you are with play will have a direct relation to how you feel about that experience and possibly music in general. Let me explain.

So in my musical experience, I have played with both phenomenal and underwhelming musicians. I have found that when
I’m playing with people who don’t know what they’re doing, it feels like a chore, and in turn, I’m not inclined to put my best into the music. On the opposite side, if I’m playing with some amazing musicians, not only will I have tons more fun, but I may learn a thing or two from them.

So when you’re working on your musical identity, remember that you will be limited or improved by the people you play with.

Keep on rocking!

Joel Miller

Practice Tip

Hello guys! So I was brainstorming ideas on how to make myself more fluent on all of my instruments, and I think I came up with a great plan. So as some of you may know, the musical alphabet goes from A to G, then repeats. That’s seven letters, the same amount of days in a week. This made me think that if I worked on a key a day, over time, I would grow more and more fluent with the material.

The information that I would review the day would be as follows:

• Chord progessions for the key: sharp, major and minor
• Scales: major and minor
• The variations of the chords, including alternative and jazz

Although it doesn’t seem like a lot listed out, that can be a lot of material to cover in a day, especially when life gets busy, but I truly believe that if we all put this method into practice, we can all see growth in our playing.

I hope this helped someone out.

Keep on Rocking

Joel Miller

Wedding Stress

So last night, my friends Dave and Jenny got married. The ceremony was beautiful and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. “Why am I mentioning this on this music blog?” you may ask. Well, I actually performed for the wedding.

That’s me in the back corner, trying not to pee on myself or cry.

Playing an instrument is no big deal for me, but my lovely friends wanted a little more out of me than that. They wanted me to play guitar AND sing. Now, I know not everyone who reads this will know my personal feelings and insecurities, so just to clarify, I HATE SINGING. For the longest time, I thought that I was a terrible singer and that there was no point for me to even try. This did not matter for Dave and Jenny apparently, because they asked anyway. Something else about me, I can’t say no. So after a lot of butt-kissing and encouragement, they got me to do it. It was the most stressful things I’ve experienced. Would I do it again? Maybe, but I think for now, I’ll stick to what I’m comfortable with doing and stretch my musical abilities some other time.

Just thought I’d share that experience with you guys. I may write more in depth about it some other time. But until then..

Keep on Rocking

Joel Miller

Notes are Notes are Notes

The most helpful thing for me in learning instruments was learning the notes I was  playing individualy. Developing an ear to figure that out definitely helped out a TON. It can be annoying at first for sure, but it is well worth the trouble. Now, does that make me fluent in all instruments? Of course not, but if you figure out the “code” to playing each individual note for every instrument, then technically you can play it! It just may take time figuring it out.

Currently I am trying to get better at playing piano, banjo, and accordion, and I’m getting the basics of it through this method of distinguishing notes. I guess I’ll give an example of what I’ve been talking about this whole time. My first instrument, and the one I feel most fluent in, is guitar. By listening to each note I am playing when I play a G chord, and figuring out how to play each note on the piano, I indirectly know how to play a G on piano.

Yes, I know, that is super cool and I am a genius for coming up with this concept, and no one has ever thought of this before I did, but it’s what I discovered through my own journey in making sense of all of this musical science. I hope that this helps someone broaden their horizons and pick up other instruments, because it really isn’t THAT hard. If you put time and effort into it, I know you can do it!

Keep on Rocking!

Joel Miller

The Click is Your Friend

The Dreaded Metronome

Almost since the creation of music, people have viewed the process of playing music “in time” as an important thing. No one wants to play with someone who can’t play at the same speed to save his life. The weird thing about that though is that despite playing on time being something good and beneficial to music, people don’t want to take the time or effort that it takes to get good at timing.

Most people, when wanting to learn how to play on time, will work with a metronome, or click track, which for those that don’t know, is just a device that clicks at the same speed consistently. Why is it though, that if you go into a band setting and the people say that they play with a click track, people immediately look at you with anger and disgust, as if it is some sort of deadly virus? Many people think that it limits the “free flow” aspect of music, containing it by the chains of clicks, but I think that people just need to look at it as another member of the band.

If you personify the click track as a band mate that simply wants to keep everyone on the same page. It truly is a benefit if you can get used to working with it, and I can say that it greatly helps my confidence and level of “flow,” since timing isn’t something I’m worried about anymore. If you keep an open mind and open ears, a metronome can definitely benefit your musical career.

Let the power of the click resonate inside you and lend you power! And keep on rocking!

Joel Miller

Building Confidence in Music

With music, confidence is a major deciding factor for how far you go with it. People who don’t feel comfortable in what they are doing  will never go out and try to spread their musical audience. Even with just performing music, you HAVE to be comfortable enough in what and how you are playing your sets.

The best confidence booster is experience.

That is a quote that I got from an episode of Star Wars: The Clone Wars, but I think it has some practicality, even in music. The saying that practice makes perfect is far from the truth, because we can never be perfect, but it does create consistency. If you become consistent in your performing, it’ll be easier for you to put yourself out there. I’ve definitely learned that the more you play and feel out the music, the better you feel about your ability to do that. I leave you this: You’ll never learn how to do things well if you never want to take the time to hone that skill.

Keep on Rocking

Joel Miller

Beyonce’s “Formation”

I never thought I would bring up Beyoncé on this music blog, but with her performing her new song at the Superbowl this Sunday, and everyone talking about it, I feel like I have to.

So if you aren’t aware of this new song, Formation, it’s because she released it literally ONE DAY before she performed it. That is kind of unheard of. Typically, if you are playing the Superbowl, you choose to play your most popular songs. It helps people get pumped up if they actually know the words to what you’re singing. I guess when you’re as big as Beyoncé, you do what you want, but it is being argued whether her doing that was a good or bad thing for her. Some say that she should have picked her most popular song, because who wouldn’t want to jam to Halo or Single Ladies. Other people think that she is a genius for what she did.

If you think about it, she basically promoted her brand new single during one of the BIGGEST events in America. How many millions of people were exposed to this song because it was played during the Superbowl? That is pretty impressive in my opinion. But wait! There’s more! Not only did she broadcast that she just released a new song, but also announced that her Formation Tour will be starting. WHAT? So you’re telling me that all of this was to gain support and following for Beyoncé’s new song and tour? Seems like it. It’s a great idea though, at least from a marketing standpoint. Use the fact that you’re performing for one of the world’s largest gatherings to endorse your music. Mad props to whoever planned that out. Whatever you think about this, you can’t deny that this will be beneficial for career, regardless if this was intentional or not.

Since this was relevant and recent, I thought I’d write this. So here ya go.

Keep on Rocking!

Joel Miller

Things Can and Will Go Wrong

No band goes through their musical lives without something going terribly wrong. In my personal experience playing with people, we’ve blown power, we’ve lost sound, cables broke, strings broke, people didn’t know what to play, and countless other things.

My worst recent experience was about a month and a half ago. I was playing bass at Cross Church on a Sunday and our guitarist popped a string. There was another guitar on stage, so of course, his first reaction was to grab it and keep playing. That didn’t go as smoothly as we had hoped. The guitar was in a tuning for metal, so he frantically tried getting it fixed to keep playing the song, but his tuner REFUSED to work. So he couldn’t even really recover to finish playing the song. With sweat dripping off of his face and his glasses long since fallen off, he tried his best to tune it by ear to continue playing. Yes it wasn’t perfect, and no we did not avoid mistakes later in the set, but he salvaged what he could, so props to him. I probably wouldn’t have handled it so smoothly.

I guess this was just to show everyone that no matter how much preparation and energy you put into something, there’s always a chance that chaos will happen. That being said, it isn’t the end of the world that bad things happen. It teaches you how to roll with the punches and keep working toward your goals.

Keep on rocking!

Joel Miller

Music Saves Ears?

So earlier this week, I was doing some music research and I stumbled across an article on npr.com from a few years ago. There was a study about the effects of age to hearing, and it is shown that a third of people over 60 years old suffer from some type of hearing loss. But wait! There is hope! You don’t have to suffer the fate that age intends for you! The study also showed that lifelong musicians statistically preserved their hearing more than their non-musically inclined peers.That’s pretty cool in my opinion.

There’s a catch though. This doesn’t apply to people who only play once a week. For the magical effects of music to grace your ear holes, you must engage in some type of musical activity at least three times a week. Doesn’t that inspire you to pick up your instrument and play the night away? Band kids beware, however. If you play in a large ensemble or marching band, it may be more harmful than helpful.

Well, I hope this was informative and inspiring to you guys. If anyone else has heard of playing music having beneficial effects, feel free to leave them down in the comments.

Until next time, keep on rocking!

Joel Miller