I am going to spend the next few weeks discussing some of the left hand blues piano patterns I teach in my new piano blues DVD. The first pattern I discuss in my video is just a simple quarter note boogie woogie pattern. It's a great pattern to play in both rock and blues settings. Simple and really effective.


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I've experienced some really dramatic changes in my music business over the last month...

My new piano instructional DVD is finally here. Thousands and thousands of hours of performance, study, and teaching have gone into the making of this video. I'm delighted to share my passion for blues music and piano education with you. I made this DVD to be a valuable learning tool for many players out there, and players of all levels can benefit. Here are just some of the subjects I talk about in the video. 1. Blues Theory and Application 2. Right and Left Blues Hand Patterns 3. Blues Rhythms 4. …

Yesterday I traded my Blackberry in for a Google Android phone. It’s a little hard to believe, even for me. I loved my Blackberry, and got some pretty extensive use out of it. I was hearing great things about Android, particularly for musicians, and I was ready to make the leap. To be honest the jury’s still out on whether or not the Android is for me – I plan to give it 30 days, and swap my Android for my Blackberry if I don’t find it useful. I want to make sure that I’m …

 The final proof for my new instructional DVD "Learning Chicago Blues Piano" arrived today. It looks great!! I should have the finished DVD ready in about a week!

In my last post I talked about the dangers of too much technology.  In the spirit of fairness and alternative viewpoints I'd like to talk about some ways technology can help us as musicians as well. Technology can be an amazing gift for practicing musicians if used the right way. It seems like every day, another cool, unique tool is hitting the market for musicians to use. Today, I am talking specifically about tools that help musicians practice. Technology used in connection with disciplined …

Today we get so caught up in technology that we forget how important creativity is to what we do. For many people the barrage of email, Facebook messages, Twitter, text messages, and other types of electronic communications have taken over their lives. It’s getting harder and harder to find that uninterrupted time to do good creative work like practicing your instrument, writing songs, making art, and even just living a healthy life. Being accessible 24 hours a day and constantly being distracted …

Today, I published another guest post over at Music Teacher's Helper: "Online Tools to increase Your Music Teaching Business" . I discuss some online tools you may not know about that will increase your student base, solidify your rep, and expand your reach as a teacher. For readers of my blog , consider the info I presented a great way to extend your branding of yourself as a teacher. Using mentoring advice and some other techniques listed here on my site, you can build a global power house …

 Musicians are often folks on a low to no-budget plan when it comes to marketing. Plenty of people would rather craft a website themselves or have a  friend do it for free than pay a webmaster a few hundred bucks or more to make one. While I have no argument whatsoever against saving money,  having a website sufficient to meet the needs of your product is absolutely essential to moving forward in your career.  In 2010, the top two income streams for independent recording artists …

Plenty of people are working on starting a music career by moving to bigger music towns – Los Angeles, New York, Nashville, Chicago and Austin, to name a few. There are also many musicians looking for music career advice, who are living in small towns and getting ready to relocate to a town with a thriving music community – or at least, it seems like the town is a musical metro. Here’s a thought – maybe moving to a larger town with a “great” music scene isn’t …

I’ve always been a huge basketball fan and see lots of parallels between professional basketball and professional music. So, it was with great interest that I tuned in to watch Lebron James announce “The Decision” on Wednesday night. I wanted to see how Lebron navigated his basketball career choice. Could I apply anything from the situation to my music career? For over two years leading up to this night the media had obsessed over which team Lebron would sign with. Thousands of …

Auditions are a little nerve-wracking for all of us. Not only are you expected to show your talents and abilities, but you’re thrust into a situation where you’re dealing with the egos and attitudes of other musicians. If you can make it through the audition and make it into the band, you might have one of the best musical experiences of your life – or, you might find yourself turned away, or worse , not called back. There’s also a HUGE difference between your run-of-the-mill band …

I'm excited to share with you my recent interview with keyboard player Jeremy Baum. Jeremy is currently the full time keyboard player for Grammy Nominated blues singer Shemekia Copeland. Jeremy and I first met on a gig in Atlantic City. I heard one solo of his and I knew immediately he had something special! We developed a friendship backstage after the gig and we’ve been friends ever since. Over the years Jeremy has done freelance work for many different artists, touring and/ or recording with …

We’ve been talking about how the way music was once produced and distributed is quickly becoming obsolete. As I mentioned before, you don’t need a record company to distribute your music or help you make a living. That being said, if you don’t have a record label and you want to do everything yourself, it’s going to be up to you to promote your own music and sell your records. These days, lugging a stack of CDs and other merch to your show just isn’t enough. There are some …

I  received an email from a reader a couple days ago asking my advice on how to get a record deal in 2010.  I know that many of you have the same question so I'll post my response.  I have changed the first name just to protect the reader's privacy. Hi Suzanne,    I have to be honest with you.  Getting a record deal is getting harder and harder these days. Record deals are no longer what they used to be. As a result of illegal downloading of music the record companies have …

 I'm excited to announce that through luck o' the Irish I received my first invitation to do a guest post on another music blog.   I've been a fan of Music Teacher Helper Blog for quite some time.  It's a great opportunity.   Anyway,
Here is the link http://www.musicteachershelper.com/blog/crafting-a-compelling-music-teachers-bio-2/

     So, you've been doing a great job of meeting other musicians.  Your reputation as a musician is spreading and your musical "brand" is growing.  Finally, some calls are starting to roll in.  Band Leader X, who has seen your regularly working rock act perform many times, calls you on a Tuesday.  In a real casual voice asks,  "Hey, you free for a duo gig on Saturday night?"  You are free and could definitely use the $225 bucks because …

     I had a really fascinating moment musically speaking a few minutes ago and figured I'd share it with you. I'm currently putting the finishing touches on the design work for the release of my "Learning Chicago Blues Piano" Instructional DVD. I just posted one of the song snippets on my listen page (check it out here "Steve's Boogie" under Blues Keys).      As I was posting this song I ended up getting a moment to listen back to some of the …

Getting beyond the mediocre threshold as both an artist and a music business entrepreneur can be extremely challenging. There is lots of information out there about how to get lower and medium level gigs. There isn't a lot of information about how to get high level and quality gigs. The simple fact of the matter is that an average and cookie cutter approach to your music career produces average results at best. Here's my gig schedule from last year. This is only my national and international dates. This …

The following is a guest post by Joe Lilly. Joe is a professional internet marketer and guitar player based in Las Vegas. You can read more of Joe's excellent writing here http://baldguitardude.com/ Getting More Gigs That Pay More It's a common problem with local bands - you have a great press kit, a good demo and a great look. You have a decent following. But for some reasons the bar owners and booking guys aren't following up and don't answer your calls. You're stuck playing the same Irish pubs night …

I'm excited to share with you my recent interview with good friend Marty Sammon. If you don't know of Marty yet you need to! Marty is truly a phenomenal blues keyboardist. He has toured the world many times over as the current keyboard player for blues superstar Buddy Guy .   He's also worked with a plethora of famous names in both blues and the rock world appearing with such artists as Eric Clapton and Carlos Santana (just to name a few). It is to be note that you don't get opportunities like this …

I've heard some people criticize other players for playing to "monotonous or robotically".   This video is on a whole other level though.  The engineer has definitely applied his own special talents to a "music career".  Check it out....

Musical Utopia minus 1 I just finished hosting a jazz jam session at my place in Chicago. It really was a lot of fun and almost an entirely positive situation. It was the type of jam where everybody was eager to play, learn, and to share their musical knowledge. This truly creates a wonderful environment to create music in. It's a rare experience for me these days. There was just one slight exception though to my "Musical Utopia". The drummer never showed up! He had committed and confirmed but …

 Here are some really important and often times overlooked concepts to keep in mind when dealing with club owners.  When applied properly your band bookings will great increase.   Booking Considerations 1. On a scale of 1-10 how would your rate the quality/professionalism of your promotional material? (if it's not a 9 or above then it needs to be) 2.How is your press kit? Are your recordings tight? Do you have nice pictures? Is your bio well constructed?...etc. etc. 3. Do you have really …

I'm excited to announce that I will be doing a series of artist interviews and posting them on the site.  A number of top level artists will be featured from several higher profile national touring acts.  Stay tuned and check back daily as I will be posting them regularly.  This should be a lot of fun and very informative for everybody!

Facebook is a fantastic tool for certain purposes as musician. There are lots of personal and business reasons to use it as a social network. It should by no means though be your only forms of communicating to your fans.   Make sure you're advertising your announcements and shows on your band's website as well. If you don't have one.....get one! Myspace (which is becoming more and more irrelevent) has taught us that if you invest all you time in building a community of fans on someone else's …

Here is a small sample of some of my favorite quotes.  These little word gems both inspire and challenge me as both an artist, musician and human being.  "You miss 100 percent of the shots you never take." —Wayne Gretzky "We are what we repeatedly do; excellence, then, is not an act but a habit." —Aristotle "A wise man gets more use from his enemies than a fool from his friends." —Baltasar Gracian (Spanish Baroque author) "Do not seek to …

Every professional or aspiring professional musician needs a bio. Your personal bio is your way of introducing yourself to both fans and music industry types in a way that puts your best foot forward.  Here are some very important concepts to keep in mind as you craft your own bio. Know Your Audience Before you begin your bio make sure you have a clear idea of who your audience is your writing to. What details will the people who are interested in your music and your business want to know about you? …

I was lucky enough to find this Jazz Internet Radio station a few days back.  What a great find.  You can choose what you prefer to listen to by decade, region, style, instrument, and many more.  I highly recommend.  http://www.accujazz.com/    Enjoy!!

Many piano players who start playing Hammond B-3 Organ find themselves intimidated by the concept of drawbars. Piano players are used to creating tone from their hands, wrists, fingers, and the way they use their body to strike the piano. In the beginning, manipulating tone with levers and buttons can just feel strange. Here are a couple approach concepts that can really help you start your own map of the the "B-3"! 1. First, just memorize the general sound/feel of 4 different drawbar …

       So you’re finally getting good at your instrument and you have the equipment and the music to follow. Maybe you have gigs and places to play at. What do you do to get to the next step? How do you now use all of the time that you have put into your art and start climbing up the music industry ladder? What is one of the easiest things you can do to start getting better music business connections today? Enter the 21st century press kit.... What is a Press Kit and …

What does your practice space look like?  I'm referring to the space, room, or area that you sit down and practice your instrument. Is it messy or is it clean? Does it have art hanging on the walls and various other furnishments that inspire? Is it bland and detrimental for you to succeed in efficient practicing? For a practice space to work for you, to allow you to be the most efficient musician when it comes to practicing, it has to be clean and void of all distraction such as clutter and garbage. …

I’m going to share a sad truth right now. A truth that you will be able to use to your advantage. Most musicians disregard punctuality. I can’t tell you how many musicians I’ve encountered that are repeatedly late to things. Late to rehearsals, late to pick up times, late to meetings, late to gigs, etc. The list goes on and on. If you had a day job you sure as hell wouldn’t come late to that because you’d be afraid of getting fired. Well, I have news for you. It’s a …

If you’re like me you’ve spent an absolute absurd amount of time working on your music and getting your playing together. Good instruments are essential to help transfer the sound and depth you've worked so hard to acquire.  It's only fair to your audience. I don’t care how great of a player you are it will diminish your sound and your message playing on below average gear. Why would you ever want to do that? I try to get the absolute best gear I can afford. For example, keyboards …

Although you can get by in this business without reading music it becomes a crutch, is impractical, and limits your gig options greatly. Most people have to be even more developed in another area of their musicianship to make up for a lack of reading skill. It’s similar to your 5 senses. If one of them is weaker or non existent then you’d have to be even stronger in your other 4 senses to survive. For those of you who don’t read music please keep this in mind. Learning to read music is …

I'm excited to announce that we've completed the final round of filming for my upcoming Chicago Blues Piano Instructional DVD.  Shooting the footage was a blast but I couldn't believe the amount of time and work required!  It was all worth it though.
       We'll be starting the editing and post production phases of the DVD in the upcoming week.  I'm just thrilled with the way it's turning out so far.  Stay tuned for further updates.

Ability to arrange Back when I was at Berklee there was a girl there who seemed to get all of the top gigs around. I’ll call her Jane for privacy reasons. I kept on hearing about Jane and seeing her everywhere. When I finally got a chance to see her play I didn’t understand the fuss about her. Jane seemed ok but nothing about her blew me away. Finally, one day I approached one of the artists she played with and asked them point blank why they chose Jane to play keyboards as opposed to the …