Music Blogs (1,258)

Bob Seger has plugged away on his guitar for more than 50 years, but there's more to the man than his hit songs. From his athletic background to his retirement, there's a whole lot of untold truth about this classic rocker.

Most people contain multitudes. And that's certainly true of Bob Seger. In addition to being a talented musician, he's also a lifelong athlete and competitor. Back in high school in Michigan, he really wanted to play football, specifically the glorious position of quarterback. But he couldn't cut it on the gridiron, leading him to turn to track and field instead. His years of hoofing it as fast as he could inspired one of his most beloved songs. As he told The Mercury News in 2019,

"I always wanted to write a song about being a runner. I don't think anybody got that, but that's where the 'Against the Wind' title came from."

Seger races against the wind not just on land but also out on the water. In 2001, his sailboat Lightning won the Port Huron-to-Mackinac Race in Michigan. And it turns out that he's quite the hands-on owner. Lightning crew member Mike Thompson told a boating publication,

"Everybody took turns steering the boat, and he was in the rotation just like everybody else."

Watch the video for more about The Untold Truth Of Bob Seger!

I needed a money order yesterday and stopped at the grocery store (in Miami) where they charge 99 cents, unlike the bank that's upwards of $7 and only available during bankers hours.

Setback by the number of people in the store, with the exception of the customer service line holding 6 feet between us, it was nearly impossible to maintain any form of social distancing throughout the store. Side note that explains why Miami has more cases of COVID-19.

I try to be aware of my surroundings and the music on their PA system started playing the song Missing You by John Waite. Okay, so my head was bobbing by the time he got to the chorus and the woman behind me was singing along. I turned to see and it was a young black woman, wearing a surgical mask. I asked if she knew who the singer was and she said "I love this song, but no, who sings it?" I said The British musician John Waite, he played in a band called The Babys. She thanked me for the information and smiled so strongly that her eyes squinted and it crinkled the mask. She asked if I liked her singing and I said it was very good... but the real question came when she said "Do you think I should keep my day job??

I have had this song playing in my head for a while now. My job and life in effect depends on my imagination, which really has no bounds. When I mention what I think of (imagine), I have lost 99% of the people even before finishing the first word. I luckily don't need anyone's approval, for anything, and that is not thinking too much of myself, but just knowing myself.

I've always been fascinated with music created with synthesized and electronic sounds. Roland is one of the companies who for 2 generations has been a leader in the manufacture of devices like analog and digital music synthesizers, digital sequencers for both studio and live performance.
In 1982, British musician Thomas Dolby released a New Wave single titled "She Blinded Me with Science" that was created with layers of electronic drums and 'synth'
Thomas was awarded (by Roland Corporation) at the NAMM show in 2018 for a Lifetime Achievement and he performed his song She Blinded Me with Science giving the background to the making of this hit!

Musicians, song writers and country music stars of all time



You sometimes forget how much you admire someone until
you're stuck at home looking for something to listen to.

Through these trying times.

Flashback to February 1964 and The Beatles appeared on the Ed Sullivan Show. Later the same year, The Rolling Stones appeared on Ed's show as well as many other groups from England... The newspapers called it The British Invasion.

Long hair, VOX amplifiers and uniforms for some. It was soon after local radio stations were asking kids to vote. I was 12 years old and asked to vote. School mates were taking sides asking me to vote my favorite band: The Beatles or The Rolling Stones.

How can you compare? They were musically different and different in how they got packaged. I doubt Hells Angels attended a Beatles concert!

I did like Brian Jones and his influences on the Stones, but I was too young and distant to the politics surrounding his leaving the band.

McCartney still performs and so does Ringo Starr, their two other band mates are gone now. The Stones less a retired bassist remain intact and are still touring. 56 years later McCartney and Jagger are still trading barbs as to who was better... The Beatles or The Rolling Stones.

My vote?

"Swear to God Bill Clinton gave me the key to Little Rock Arkansas and wildeyed raved that? Wang Dang Sweet Poontang was his favorite song ever! " Ted Nugent then posted this picture.

I started playing bass guitar around 1967. Music then was a mixture that included folk songs, soul music and rock & roll. Some of the name acts used studio musicians and the songs I listened to often had the same musicians who played on hundreds of records. Since they were paid union wages for their recording time, it was normal for them to be anonymous and receive no album credits.

My original idea was blog was to blog about them (musicians collectively) but today this blog starts with a few bassists who shaped the music we all grew up listening to. It was many years later when I found out who they were. Yeah, there are more and I'll introduce them and how their styles differed the sound of the electric bass.

James Jamerson, originally played upright bass, switched to a Fender electric bass. Plucked the strings with his first finger (like an upright bassist would normally do) that created his iconic Motown style.

Carol Kaye, a guitar teacher did some studio work and filled in for an absent bassist that started her career in 1963. Carol used a pick but I've read she put foam under the strings (near the bridge) to dampen the sound slightly making it sound like she was picking with her fingers.

For years, that's all my ears heard.

Rock music brought us THE WHO and bassist John Entwistle who attacked the bass with lots of treble, pick, 3 or 4 fingers in rapid strokes... it didn't matter. John was later nicknamed Thunder Fingers.
Right after that was the YES group and Chris Squire. Again another bassist using sharp treble sound on a bass. But, the style wasn't too far from conventional.

Bring on Larry Graham, multi-instrumentalist who created a thumping style of bass playing. He could tap a string and pluck another giving it a syncopated (funky) sound. Marcus Miller was doing much the same.

This "slapping" created an entirely new sound and style to bass guitar that brings it to the front as a soloist instrument.



The world is filling up with slap bassists and it would appear if you want to be a 'somebody' slap has to be in your arsenal.

Need a break from COVID-19 and intubation ventilators? You've come to the right place!
To do this correctly, I need to give you some background first.

Some time ago, I did a blog about the Hammond organ. Inside the heart of this amazing instrument is a motorized tone wheel generator. The user has drawbars that can be adjusted in or out to blend octaves and harmonics. In the beginning, Hammond used speaker cabinets similar to guitar/musical instruments. Not long after, Mr. Leslie came along with wooden louvered boxes that had revolving speakers and horns that made a wavering (coral) effect and offered it to Hammond who rejected the idea.
Leslie continued making his cabinets that caught on with Hammond owners and soon Hammond lost the sales of his speakers as everyone was buying Leslie Tone Cabinets!

A Hammond organ is literally a piece of furniture and the Leslie cabinet matches in appearance.



The connection from the organ was special round multi-prong plug for power, audio and switching for the speed control as the Leslie had 2 speeds of rotation. The video below is a Leslie with the back panels removed so you can see the inner workings and watch how the horns speed up and slow down creating the unique sound. Notice it takes a few seconds for the rotating effect to speed up and slow down. It's one of the unique effects of the Leslie.



A generation later guitarists like Eric Clapton and David Gilmour had custom adapters so they can plug their guitars into Leslie cabinets. This led to a smaller version of the rotating speaker built into a conventional guitar amplifier appearance.



As micro-circuits developed, companies started making add-on sound effects that simulated the revolving speaker effect so musicians didn't need to carry more amplifiers, they could simply plug their guitars into the device and get the Leslie Tone Cabinet sound.

The problem is they all sounded like simulations and didn't capture the true Leslie sound...