Life is short. There are only two certainties: that we are born, and that we die. Nothing else is guaranteed. This realization is oddly motivating. It helps me realize that I need to take seriously my goals and go after the things that I want most in life. All of the nonsense that we deal with as adults.... so much of it truly does not matter. What does matter? Well, the people and things that are close to our hearts. It sounds corny, but it's true. Why should we waste our time and efforts on things that do not bring us joy? Controversly, anyone listening to this podcast probably experiences great satisfaction through creating, sharing, and socializing via music.  It is very easy to prioritize "important" things over our passions and relationships. Yet we all end up in the same place. Why not steal time from those "important" events and put that time into the experiences that expose our most human sides? And hey, let's not be hypocritical. Sometimes music is the time suck that needs to take a back seat. That's okay. It's a fact that we all need to accept. Don't live in fear. Don't go through life thinking that you're too old, missed the boat, or just aren't good enough. You have an idea for an album? Write, record, and release that album. You've always wanted to play live gigs? Put together a set and start booking some gigs. Of course there are more steps involved, but, generally speaking, the person who most often holds us back from going after our dreams is...ourselves. Stop getting in your own way and remember that, one day, you'll either be dead or old and looking back, wondering how you could be so stupid as to not follow your heart and passion.   patreon.com/Musicians_Take_Note Subscribe for weekly episodes!

It's the funniest thing. I watch musicians put hours upon hours into their songwriting, engineering and production, promotion, artwork, social media... It's really quite inspiring to watch! Then these musicians will go through the effort of contacting various live music venues and booking agents, get in touch with other bands, put together a lineup, haul all of their gear... and then put on one of the most boring live shows that I have ever seen. I am not trying to insult anyone. I certainly am not looking to insult those artists and bands who really are intentional about their live shows. Honestly, I truly believe that most musicians just get lazy at this point. Sometimes I see a "too cool for school" attitude in my fellow musicmakers that causes a mentality of "I don't want to look like I'm trying too hard." Yet we are hypocrites; we'll pour our hearts into our lyrics, but then we hold back on our live performances. Here's the secret: people go to live performances to watch a spectacle. Your crowd wants to see something more unique and special right in front of their eyes than whatever they can pull up on Netflix at home. The problem with your boring live show is that it is less exciting than Netflix or TikTok, so people are going to choose their familiarity over your snoozefest. And the worst part? With a few simple adjustments, some introspection, and, simply put, ENERGY, your live show could easily stand out among all of the snoozefest local shows. Live performances are an opportunity to express emotion and creativity, much like albums, jam sessions, lyrics, etc. We went through the effort of actually making it happen, so...let's do something exciting with the opportunity!   patreon.com/Musicians_Take_Note Subscribe for weekly episodes!

Episode 40 folks!!! Thanks for sticking here with me! I FINALLY sat down with my good friend Cory Sharick, a wonderfully talented musician and producer with whom I have collaborated extensively (shout-out CLE Trio and Harmonic Drift). While we covered a ton of ground, one thing is clear: Cory knows how to get excited about music and make me want to shut up and pick up my guitar. I don't know anyone who studies recording techniques more than Cory does. Across various genres and decades Cory has a great understanding of the most cutting-edge and creative sounds that are entering the music world. I can bring up any reasonably-popular album, and Cory will be able to give me the rundown on how they managed to give it a unique sonic fingerprint. We went into depth on various reverb techniques, to give you a taste of Cory's depth of knowledge. To hear Cory's latest musical offerings check out Sonic Explorer, Cory's one-man band that is, well, exploring a number of styles and genres. The alter ego Sonic Destroyer is gearing up to release some darker, metal-inspired tunes. You can also check out CLE Trio, who have an album in the works, and definitely take the time to go through the back catalog of Vinyl Wings, Cory's former rock fusion group. Cory even has a guest appearance on the upcoming Harmonic Drift album! Thanks for listening, and enjoy this in-depth conversation with one of my best friends in the music world!   patreon.com/Musicians_Take_Note Subscribe for weekly episodes!

Hello folks! Sorry for the delay - I was a little busy getting married!!! This episode is quite simple. Without art, the world would be a much duller place. Sure, when we hear "art" many of us think of the most popular artists: Da Vinci, Picasso, Beethoven, Pink Floyd, etc. But those shouldn't be the only guys making art. Actually, let me rephrase: they CAN'T be the only ones. Art is for all of us. We cannot gatekeep ourselves out of creating and releasing to the world our expressions and emotions. Without the "every man" making art we simply would not have much art at all. Art is subjective, as it's one of our means of connecting with one another in our most human form. Sure, some people turn it into a full time job. And good for them! But, simply put, art is not a job (at its core). It does not exist in order for someone to make money. It exists to make the world a better place. Your art, too, makes the world a better place, even if you're just a "weekend warrior" making it happen in your free time. Without your art we would be lacking a massively important part of our existence as feeling, emotional, social beings. Keep making your art. Whether you make $2 or $2 million or garner 40 streams or 400 million: your art matters.   patreon.com/Musicians_Take_Note Subscribe for weekly episodes!

I, like many others, generally consider music a "good thing" that we all get to experience. How can you argue with that!?! We get to express ourselves in ways that our words often cannot suffice. Oftentimes our musical endeavours lead to new friendships and novel experiences that we will cherish for our entire lives. I also believe that music can be an addiction. Sure, we generally utilize music as a positive, but, like anything else, it can take over and negatively affect the other important things in our lives. If we spend all of our time making music, to the point where we neglect important relationships or other life goals, then the "positivity" of music is a bit more complicated. Most of our lives require balance in order to run smoothly, and music has to be part of that equation. It is easy to feel envious of the lives of professional musicians, the ones we view as the most "successful". Obviously we all want to play to a sold-out arena of screaming, rabid fans. What we need not envy is the path required to reach that point. Many of the musicians at the highest levels have completely transformed their lives to fit around their music. That's not inherently a BAD thing, but you need to be honest with yourself and decide whether you actually want to let music control your life. In my opinion, those of us with day jobs paired with a passion for creating music have some unique advantages. We never have to worry about "selling out", the act of compromising our artistic integrity for the sake of making money. In the free time that we have we have 100% creative control over our passion project. Most of us started playing music for the sake of the enjoyment of playing music, not for some lofty goals of financial success or great fame. I encourage everyone to return to that place of pure enjoyment and to stop sweating the fortune and fame. It's okay to live a balanced life with a few less screaming fans.    patreon.com/Musicians_Take_Note Subscribe for weekly episodes!

Look. I think that everyone agrees that "near gear day" is the best day. I LOVE having an excuse to buy some new musical gadgets and to play with my new toys. Sometimes my new gear even inspires me, pushing me into new creative fields and putting me on a path that I would have never discovered myself! With all of that said, let's get something clear. Your gear is not the thing that is holding you back. Furthermore, if you think that an artist is not "legit" if they did not spend a certain amount of money or buy a specific brand of gear.....you're a gear snob. And gear snobs are the worst.  There's no denying that certain instruments are made better than others. Of course spending more money will generally correlate to higher quality. It also needs to be mentioned that diminishing returns come into play. We can debate the "sweet spot" price of an electric guitar or ride cymbal, but the reality is that you do not need the highest quality gear in order to be creative and create art. You do not need a Gibson in order to make rock music. You do not need a Moog in order to create dynamic electronic sounds. Your creativity is what will carry you to "success", whatever that means for you. Your gear will help, sure, but don't let it hold back. A lot of fantastic music has been made with lackluster gear. Buy what you can afford, and then use your musical tools in as many ways as the creative side of your brain will allow.    patreon.com/Musicians_Take_Note Subscribe for weekly episodes!

Sometimes we feel like we are floating on a cloud of music-filled dreams and never want to come down. Other times making music is a drag. How do we keep the love of music consistent when those "floaty cloud times" seem to have passed? Like most things in life, I believe that you just have to be honest with yourself. Why don't you feel inspired? Do you feel like you don't have enough time? Are you tired from your work and personal lives? Are you more focused on a different love right now? Instead of trying to rationalize things and cover them up, let's just be honest and get everything out in the open. Then it will be quite simple to find a solution. For me personally, my solutions generally come down to: Something in the music process is a complete chore, so I just need to take a break from that thing.Other people are creating drama / problems and sucking the joy out of it, so I need to remove myself from those people.Something else is demanding my time (or I have discovered another love), so I need to focus on the things that I love about music and take a break from everything else. It's okay to take breaks and let inspiration find you again. With that said, I believe that the best solution is to focus on the aspects of music that we love most so that we WANT to be creative every single day.   patreon.com/Musicians_Take_Note Subscribe for weekly episodes!

Yes, but not much. Honestly, I don't have much more to say. A lot of great artists have made a lot of great music with a limited textbook music theory knowledge base. Other artists have made great music after formal training at Julliard or Berklee. There are no rules. Music theory is a way of explaining what is happening in a piece of music. It is not a set of rules. It is not a blueprint for writing a song. It is simply a system of notation and sharing ideas so that musicians can universally understand each other. Some musicians come up with their own languages, and that can often be the pathway to success. We all, however, know a little bit of music theory. If you know what a "G chord" is on guitar, then you know a little bit of music theory. If you know that the black keys on a piano are the sharps and flats, then you know a little bit of music theory. We can discuss music theory without sinking into the depths of complex jazz chords and books that might as well be explaining string theory. You will learn music theory whether you want to or not. Keep an open mind, and don't worry if it takes you a little while to pick up on some of the terminology.   patreon.com/Musicians_Take_Note Subscribe for weekly episodes!

Heyoooo!!! Episode 34 - we're doing it baby! I had the pleasure of seeing a Poppy / PVRIS dual-headline show last night. It was a great show! Poppy is one of my favorite recent artists who has evaded me live for years, and PVRIS's singer has one of the strongest voices that I've heard live in some time. For every professional artists that I see live I watch around 10 local bands. Of course this gets my mind racing and thinking about the important question: "what are the key differences between a Poppy live show and a local band at the local bar?" Obviously attendance is a key factor, as well as the budget for a light show, costuming, etc. But we already know those answers. One key difference is that professional shows do not have much "downtime". Poppy is not sitting there tuning her guitar for 3 minutes while babbling about some album that she released a year ago that no one has heard. When pro artists play live they maximize their time actually playing MUSIC, the thing that people want to hear and see performed, and they minimize the dead spaces between songs. PVRIS managed to fit 20 songs into an hour-long time slot. THAT is the gold standard. If you cannot figure out how to play six 3-minute long songs in 30 minutes, then you have a problem. Another key factor is consistency. Pro acts are tight and consistent every night. The members accent their hits at the same time. They use instruments that will not go out of tune every 30 seconds. Their set is planned and does not require on-stage debates about what the next song should be. The act is an actual ACT, a PERFORMANCE, not "local band acts pretentiously for 40 minutes and then leaves." I highly recommend that everyone watch live performances of their favorite PROFESSIONAL artists and take notes. You will learn valuable lessons.     patreon.com/Musicians_Take_Note Subscribe for weekly episodes!

Hello friends! Having just come off of a short "weekender" mini-tour with my band Mud Whale, the topic of touring is fresh on my mind. The question that I usually ask myself is "how the heck do you make money on these things?"  In reality, the members of a local band are not going to quit their day jobs after going on a 5 day tour. It just is not realistic. It is more important to ask yourself WHY you want to go on tour, to set up some realistic and attainable goals for the tour, and then to review afterwards and decide whether you accomplished your goals. Maybe your goal can be to make 5 new fans each night or to establish a connection with the owner / manager of each venue so that you can come back in the future. If we make intelligent decisions about the tour, then we do not necessarily have to lose money. Some venues pay well, and others don't. 3 local bands touring together often is not reasonable. It costs a lot more to travel 8 hours between gigs than to travel 2 hours. "But if I play in Baltimore, then I will hurt my draw in DC." No you won't. Let the stadium acts ask those types of questions. You are playing to 30 people every night, so it is imperative that you cut down costs in order to make up for your expenses. Unless you go into the tour with the mindset that it will cost you $XXXX and that everyone is okay with losing that money....you should be smart and intentional about the finanical side.  The MOST important goal, however, is to enjoy yourself. There generally is not a ton of money to be made from music, as compared to other industries, so you should really only pursue the dream of sleeping on couches and driving 4 hours per day if you are going to enjoy the journey of making friends and seeing new cities.      patreon.com/Musicians_Take_Note Subscribe for weekly episodes!

Hello my esteemed colleagues and friends! I am back for another ep, and this time Mark from Orion's Sword was kind enough to join me. We had a wonderful conversation about SO MANY THINGS. I feel, however, that the common thread was a simple but elusive topic: building the band / artist name / music career that you truly desire. Most importantly, we discussed how to avoid getting in your own way. Orion's Sword is a one-man HEEEAAAAVY metal band, and its only member plays bass. That's right. Show me another band that ONLY has a bass player. Of course their sound is rounded out with programmed drums and una mezcla de various samples, instrumentation, etc. Of course we go deep in the episode on the wide variety of influences that have shaped Orion's Sword's sound and style, but I HIGHLY HIGHLY recommend checking out their most recent album titled "It Started With Blood And Ended In Flames".  Here is my very short review of Orion's Sword: YOU CAN DO THAT WITH A BASS TONE???? IS THAT EVEN LEGAL?????? Seriously though, this music is a great mixture of crushing riffs and well-placed, well-timed breaks into slower sections that are reminiscent of the soundtracks from the 70's and early 80's such as A Clockwork Orange, Blade Runner, and The Exorcist. In my opinion, it is a perfect blend of two sounds that are often not joined together, at least not quite this fluently. Anyways, I hope you enjoy this conversation as much as I did!   patreon.com/Musicians_Take_Note Subscribe for weekly episodes!

Let's not overcomplicate this: music is a language. Music is an artform, and, ultimately, it is a means of communicating our emotions. It is unique, just as painting, poetry, and other artforms are unique as well.  With that said, music occupies our audible spectrum. Most of the time, when our minds create mental pictures around the word "art", we think of the visual spectrum. Picasso, Da Vinci, and Monet probably come to mind. But how do we satisfy our ears' hunger for creative expression? Well, quite often, we use music! Of course we have spoken language as well, but we often utilize language for the sake of communicating practical ideas. Music is the opposite in many ways. Can it be solely practical? I guess, but really no one starts making music because they want to fulfill a utilitarian function. We do it because we want to express ourselves creatively. We can communicate with each other through music, even if we do not speak the same language. It is a language that we all share, across our planet (aside from the deaf I suppose). You can listen to a Stravinski piece without speaking a word of Russian. Similarly, billions of people listen to music with English lyrics and share our emotions without necessarily understanding all of the lyrics. English is my native language, and yet I often find myself in this position. Let's celebrate together in our shared communication of emotions via music!   patreon.com/Musicians_Take_Note Subscribe for weekly episodes!

What is one of the most universal experiences for musicians? No, I'm not talking about spending all of your money at your local boutique guitar shop. I'm talking about fear! I am fairly certain that every musician - every creator, really - experiences fear at some point. Stage fright is an obvious example. It takes a journey to go from trembling at the sight of the lights and microphone stand to rocking up there like Freddie Mercury. But man is it a worthwhile journey. Learning to perform in front of a crowd of strangers (or worse, people you actually know...) will give you more confidence than you could ever realized. We have plenty of other fears too. What if no one listens? What if I get a bad comment? What if the path to releasing music is too difficult? What if I make a fool out of myself? At the end of the day, we make music to express ourselves. We need to get over our fears and achieve our dreams, at any cost. Do not put your passions on the backburner.

I'll make this bio simple: learning an instrument should not be a chore. What is the point of taking time out of your busy schedule to learn something that is going to LOSE money if you are not going to enjoy the process? It is no way to live. Too often we take on hobbies and then take them WAY too seriously. We worry that, each week, we are not progressing quickly enough or taking YouTube by storm. It's a common problem to put pressure on ourselves to be the BEST. Let me take the weight off of your shoulders: just have fun. Make funny noises. Play along with your favorite songs over and over. You will have plenty of time to learn scales and bang your head against the "music theory wall." Right now: have fun. Keep the excitement going. If you can lock into that groove, then it will only get better.

I cannot even tell you how many hours I have spent arguing over people's "10 greatest guitarist" lists. My adolesence was 50% discovering certain things about my body and 50% arguing about why John Mayer is overrated and no one will ever play a Les Paul better than Jimmy Page did. Was that time well spent? I like to think so! The "fad" behind flashy guitar skills definitely peaked in the 80's. Jimi Hendrix made electric guitar flamboyant and rambunctious, and then the race was on to take the instrument to its absolute extremes. I like to think that Michael Angelo Batio pretty much took the whole "speed" thing to its absolute extreme. Move over Yngwie - your self-indulgence can be outdone! In reality, the "greatest" guitarists are often just the ones who we personally like most. And that's totally fine! The crime that I see committed most often is that people make their personal top 10, and then they hunker down in their keyboard bunker and refuse to even consider updating the list. It's a shame too because there are just so many cool guitarists! Sure, the flashy acrobatics lost their heat when the likes of Mudhoney and Melvins laid the groundwork for grunge, revolutionized the world of rock music, and said "hey, technical proficiency isn't the end-all, be-all" (I'm paraphrasing). But that's the best part: you can like Mudhoney AND Steve Vai! It doesn't have to be an "either / or" situation. In protest of these "top 10" lists, I am going to just make a giant list of guitarists who spring to mind for me. I encourage you to make your own list and share it with me! Shoot me a message on Instagram @joe_h_guitar or @harmonicdriftoh . Or make a post on the Patreon! Alex Scally, Reb Beach, Kevin Shields, Greg Anderson, Reb Beach, Joe Satriani, Jimmy James, Guthrie Govan, Kiko Louriero, Ritchie Blackmore, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Nita Strauss, Joe Pass, Julian Lage, John 5, David Fiuczynski, Elliot Easton, Robert Smith, David Gilmour, Chet Atkins, Django Reinhardt, Randy Rhoads, Jake E. Lee, Brad Gillis, Brent Hinds, Fredrik Akesson, George Harrison, Carl Wilson, Wes Montgomery, Pat Metheny, Steven Drozd... just to name a few! And, of course, you HAVE to see these ridiculous 80's shred videos! https://youtu.be/aGf5NxLQoEo https://youtu.be/d6IRDYRsoxw https://youtu.be/2QOFPADkTlw https://youtu.be/0gKlYvyt-ns   patreon.com/Musicians_Take_Note Subscribe for weekly episodes!

I love thinking back to my "past self" and how much of an ignorant dunce I was. My music opinions were especially dense. Any music with harsh vocals was "just noise". Country and hip hop had no place in the musical lexicon. Was anyone even playing guitar anymore? In my personal and very humble opinion, the single greatest way to increase your musical abilities is to expand your horizons. Yes, there is something to be said about working on scales and memorizing the circle of fifths, but, at the end of the day, we are meat robots who are constantly building off of each others' great works. Playing a scale is not going to give anyone a strong emotional reaction (without the right context). And, honestly, if you just listen to the same 4 artists over and over again, then it is very unlikely that you are going to be able to come up with musical ideas that don't sound exactly like those 4 artists. The world of music is completely infinite, at least in the context of our finite lives. When there exists billions of hours of music available at our fingertips, it becomes impossible to consume it all. Therefore the journey never has to end. Now, that does not mean that we should abandon our favorite artists. They have a special place in our hearts, and we should never deny our true artistic loves. But I challenge everyone listening to make a conscious effort to try a new style or genre of music once in a while. Better yet, pick a country with which you are not very familiar, and take a listen to what music is popping off in that place.    https://www.iflscience.com/we-stop-discovering-new-music-at-a-certain-age-heres-why-48187   patreon.com/Musicians_Take_Note Subscribe for weekly episodes!

No no no, I do not hate you all, my lovely audience. I will admit that this title is a bit of clickbait, though it is something that I have said many times to many people. I have had endless frustrations with (us) musicians. We tend to have pretty big egos. We cannot see the forest for the trees with our own creations. We flake ALL THE TIME. There are days when I am ready to sell my guitars and start golfing (or some other typical white guy activity).  Of course, in the end, it is always worth creating music. And, honestly, some of my best friends are musicians. I have met so many amazing people in my musical endeavours and am continuing to do so. This podcast has opened me up to a multitude of insanely creative people who are a great hang and have an awesome perspective on what it means to be an artist. The good forever outweighs the bad. The good news is that it is really easy to outdo other musicians in many ways. If you can show up on time to your gigs, keep your set to your allotted time slot, and stay reasonably sober throughout the night, then congrats(!!!) because you are in the top 10% of musicians. Forgive the clickbait and stick around for the whole episode!   patreon.com/Musicians_Take_Note Subscribe for weekly episodes!

Hello hello hello! I'm coming at you with Episode 25 of the Musicians: Take Note! podcast this week. It is a solo episode, so please save your booing until the end.  My good friend John from The Antediluvian Projekt (Bandcamp link below) posted a great Instagram story that has really stuck with me. It was quite simple and read "don't be the best, be the only". This is the type of sentiment with which I have often agreed, but I have never heard such a succinct phrasing of the message. What exactly does it mean? We often get caught up thinking about how "marketable" our music is, basically meaning that we worry that it does not have enough mass appeal. We think that this is the one key factor stopping us from becoming the next Taylor Swift and making enough money to start our own country (maybe that's just my dream...) In reality, what often holds us back is making our music too SIMILAR to other artists. Why would someone listen to a crappy Led Zeppelin ripoff when they can just listen to the real thing? Conversely, if you are making music that is truly personal to yourself, then it will inherently possess unique qualities and will, therefore, be the ONLY place where people can find that music. Is everyone going to be a fan of your unique music? Of course not! Less than 1% of people will be interested at all. But it's important to flip our mentality in this regard. We need to put away the fear of rejection and instead focus on the small number of people who will really dig what we're doing. Guess what? If you happen to scratch the right itch for those people, then they will become die-hard fans who buy all of your stuff and support you more than you could have ever imagined.   https://antediluvianprojekt.bandcamp.com/   https://kk.org/thetechnium/1000-true-fans/     patreon.com/Musicians_Take_Note Subscribe for weekly episodes!

Hello friends! Let's commence Episode 24 of America's favorite podcast... Speaking of America's favorite entertainment outlets, I had the opportunity to speak with Tich from Fuzzy Vandelay, America's favorite band! These guys are a "cosmic gumbo" of stoner rock, doom metal, post rock, and so many other wonderful genres. I am a big believer in combining styles in order to create something new, and Fuzzy Vandelay serves as a great example and benefit to my argument. When the world has 3409139 stoner doom bands that are all rewriting the riff from Into the Void...well, it's time to try something new. One of the really cool things about Fuzzy Vandelay is that they have done a great job documenting their live shows. I've always thought it's crazy how bands will go through all of this effort to set up a gig, find other bands, haul half stack amplifiers...and then not record the thing! Sometimes they don't even take pictures! Fuzzy Vandelay is the gold standard, having created great audio and video recordings of each of their gigs and then made them available to the public. Do live albums do as well as studio recordings? Usually they don't, but it's better than going dark for three years while you play to mostly empty rooms, hoping that some A&R hotshot randomly stumbles into the bar. Tich also has a great perspective on songwriting, the key means of expression for most musicians. We also get into the parallels between music and comedy and some of the key lessons that musicians can learn from successful comedians. I always like making comparisons to creative types outside of music, since I feel that the information can be less clouded by our own personal biases. Enjoy the episode! If you want to hear more from Fuzzy Vandelay, then check out their website, which is super easy to use and contains so much detailed and entertaining information!   https://www.fuzzyvandelay.com/   Subscribe for weekly episodes! Come check out the Patreon! patreon.com/Musicians_Take_Note

Thank you once again for joining me on the pod! A question I constantly see asked on the Internet is "how do I meet other musicians?" I often take this question, and the subsequent answer, for granted. I have been collaborating other musicians since I was just a kid (and life was a nightmare...), so the whole concept of having difficulty meeting my fellow creative types has never been a difficult one in my life. With that said, it's an important topic to cover, so I'm glad that people are asking! I covered three main topics for meeting musicians: How do I find a band to join?How do I find potential collaboraters who will appear on my tracks?How do I find other artists with whom I can set up shows, etc.? I dive into each of these areas, but the TLDR is that open mic / jam nights and Craigslist are probably going to be your best bet for finding bands to join. For networking with fellow active artists I highly recommend finding their Instagram and becoming a genuine fan. Support them as a fan, then message them (politely) and ask about working together. I am pretty likely to find an opportunity to work with a fellow musician if they have expressed genuine interest in my art. If you have anything to add to the discussion, then please come check out the Patreon and post your valuable information in the community! patreon.com/Musicians_Take_Note Subscribe for weekly episodes!