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there is a lot of truth in this article... especially the part about shorts...

Ten ways to keep it real...

1.	The Stevie Ray Vaughn Clause. The blues calendar did not start with the birth of Stevie Ray Vaughn. Everyone appreciates SRV for what he did to help get blues out to a larger audience. You, however, are not SRV. Do not attempt to conjure him in any form, be it clothing, guitar straps, your playing style or your bad lyrics. The man is dead, let us all respect his memory and endeavor not to urinate on his grave by our poor interpretations of him. Playing his songs is one thing, trying to be him is, well...disturbing and never successful.
2.	Ego has it's place and it's not in the band. Ego - for lack of a better word - is good; It's what gives an artist his/her individuality. And there is nothing wrong with laying claim to your skills when you actually have some. However, in a band setting when you have to work - together - with other people for the explicit purpose of creating a musical landscape, your ego does nothing but ruin the experience for everyone else. If you drive 200 miles to a gig in a van (or your cars) and load and unload your own gear, you should think twice about your greatness.
3.	More volume does not translate into more awesomeness. "But I can't get the tone I want if it's not loud". Yes, and the audience can't find the door fast enough either. It's ok musicians are deaf, but they need to remember they are not playing in an arena; it's usually a small venue holding a couple hundred folks who value the fact they can still hear. If you are unlucky enough to have to suffer dealing with a soundman - who almost always suck and are, you guessed it...too loud, all that can be said is; "tell them what you want, not what they want" and hopefully, you'll get 10% of what you asked for.
4.	The club is not your garage and they don't care about you. Yes, the club has hired you to entertain and makes the assumption you will all be professional about it. This means you show up on time, play music that the crowd may actually enjoy and generally try to keep an atmosphere alive that is conducive to drinking and picking up chicks. This makes the bar money and usually assures you a return visit. It's not always easy to do when you are stuck next to a pool table and the t.v. above your head isn't even turned off for the show. Don't get confused and think they actually care about you and don't lose sight of the fact you are being paid to endure this, so suck it up. And one other thing: You've spent years learning your instrument, so why do you embarrass yourself with your ten minute, pre-show, solo warmup? You are masturbating and everyone can see it.
5.	Your clothing won't make you a better musician. Like it or not, clothing can be an important part of live performance but some basic principles apply: Shorts are out. There is no situation, no matter how hot or steamy that warrants wearing shorts to a gig,,unless you are the drummer. Never confuse being 'cool' with looking 'cool'. Bright suits with padded shoulders and wingtips more often than not means your frontman is an idiot with more ego than talent. Learn your craft, dress reasonably nice for shows and the music will do the rest.
6.	Less is more. If you are confused by this statement, you need to get in the weeds and listen to some of the guys you keep playing every night. Good music requrires every member of a band to know his/her part and play it sparingly within the context of the overall arrangement - at least until it's 'lead' time and then all bets are off. If there is a general rule that separates the men from the boys, this is the one.
7.	Be original. Playing the rhythm section of any number of Willie Dixon or Muddy Waters tunes and putting your own, lame lyrics over them is NOT original music. It's not even a good effort. Way too many bands put out music that is an exact duplication of some dead guys songs and call it original. This annoying habit is further promulgated by the industry reviewers that usually don't play insturments themselves and think plaigarism is cool. The blues is a suprisingly flexible style of music and offers the artist a broad pallete to be 'unique'. Please do so.
8.	Dynamics, Pocket and Tension & Release are not scientific theories, they are essential parts of 'good' music. If you don't know what these terms are, google them. If you still don't know what they are after you've read up on them, you have no business being a musician. Music is a conversation we have with an audience we may or may not know. Think about how you talk, argue, lament and discuss things with real people: how your eyebrows move, your hands gesture and how your voice goes up and down to emphasis a point. If you feel you are incapable of utilizing these practices, it may be time to consider a Jimmy Buffet tribute band.
9.	The ability to play the guitar well does not mean you can also sing. Some musicians think they can't get famous without naming a band after themselves and judging by the way publications and even blues societies tend to value the soloist over the group, there may be some truth to that. However, the ability to play does not always translate to the ability to sing. Many great arrangements have been descimated by some egotist that can't hold pitch or phrase a lyric to save their life because they named the band after themselves and feel obligated to now ruin your experience for the betterment of their career. The voice is an instrument and is every bit as important as all the other ones in the band. If you are curious why someone would allow their music to suffer because they insist on singing, refer to point #2 .
10.	Practice and listen to those that do it a lot better than you. The blues greats didn't get that way all by themselves, they listened to other players and musical styles. They practiced their art and then shared it with others. Have respect for your music; take it seriously, pratice, listen to what other cats are doing and have fun. If you do that, the audience will respond and you'll really enjoy yourself. That's keepin' it real.
	Even the best musician is likely to violate one of these musical rules on a given night, however if you violate more than three, you are being a troll. The blues is the greatest music in the world. This has been an effort to make sure it stays that way.

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Permalink Reply by Nathan King on August 19, 2010 at 8:05am

These are great! I'm going to share them with everyone I know. Very good pointers, thanks for bringing them to our attention!

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Permalink Reply by JUJU on August 19, 2010 at 9:25am

Hell yeah CB i like it many a true word spoken ...is no sence nonsence ??
juju :)

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Permalink Reply by Shawn on August 19, 2010 at 12:12pm

I love all types of music even Jimmy Buffet. If it's done from ones heart it will speak to others soul.

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Permalink Reply by sad sack on August 19, 2010 at 1:10pm

i did nothing but post something i found online... i am not the author

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Permalink Reply by Duke T. on August 19, 2010 at 1:19pm

This is Truth.

As an extra, I would add that Enthusiasm is like Volume -

It's important to have enough, but it should never be used as a replacement for talent.

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Permalink Reply by Scott L on August 19, 2010 at 3:33pm

There are probably a bunch more to add to this list when it comes to putting a band together and practicing, especially if you want to put a band together that can actually go and play in front of people.

*** Is it wise to get mad when the "new guy" can actually cover songs in addition to improvising and instead of cultivating a relationship you stop inviting that guy because you are threatened by someone who can play?

***Is it wise to keep playing the same lame slow crummy stuff with your lifelong buddies you've known since elementary school when you really want to actually play in front of people and you know people who can help get you to that point but you are unwilling to bring that person in because they might be better at some things than you?

***Get a clue, a lot of that original "stuff" you keep playing over and over again doesn't really sound that good and unless you can learn to play at least a few cover songs, you will never get a chance to play your originals in front of a live audience.

***Get a clue, just because you and your life long buddies have managed to string a few lame songs together doesn't make you a good musician because you aren't capable of cold calculated self assessment, you will probably never be more than a clique without an audience except your poor wives who have to endure the same mediocre play list every time you all get together so stop kidding yourself that you will be famous some day.

***One of the biggest rules of music is that there is ALWAYS somebody better than you, if you can't deal with that and become better from it you should probably give up playing all together, at least for the sake of those innocents who have to listen to you.

Any way, I could probably come up with more. I don't claim to be some kind uber musician in the least but I have a better than average ear and I know what "sells" and what entertains.

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Permalink Reply by Scott L on August 19, 2010 at 6:07pm

Another thing, people who are way too hung up on Stevie Ray Vaughn need to realize that not everybody likes SRV. I'm not saying he wasn't good, all I'm saying is that some of us have got burned out on him and have a hard time even listening to him let alone looking at someone dressed like him. Blues bands should also take this into account and REALLY get back to the roots because certain types of blues, like what you commonly hear in clubs gets old and stale. At a certain point all the songs sound the same to some of us. One of the reasons why great bands like PinK FloYD got so big is because they took the blues several steps further and made it into something fresh and different while retaining the roots which is a key signature of any great band, bringing freshness to the genre and creating something new from it.

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Permalink Reply by BenBob on August 19, 2010 at 6:22pm

>> Do not attempt to conjure [SRV] in any form, be it clothing, guitar straps...

Whew! I'm glad I went for the "Esteban" look!

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Permalink Reply by HOLLOWBELLY on August 19, 2010 at 9:25pm

I've never actually listened to Stevie Ray Vaughn-feeling a bit ignorant now-I best go check him out..

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Permalink Reply by ChickenboneJohn on August 19, 2010 at 11:26pm

HB...don't worry about feeling ignorant...it's not that I hate SRV, but he never really did anything for me... too many people hear him and try to copy him..whenever we get people asking to play at The Crossroads Blues Club, and they cite their influences includes Stevie Ray Vaughan...the calender somehow seems to be totally booked up for the foreseeable future....we prefer to put on people with a more original slant on what they do...besides, when did SRV ever entertain the room by handing out A4 pieces of paper for people to roll up into their own trumpets and accompany the chorus of a song.....that's the sort of artiste we like!

HOLLOWBELLY said:

I've never actually listened to Stevie Ray Vaughn-feeling a bit ignorant now-I best go check him out..

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Permalink Reply by Outhouse Instruments on August 19, 2010 at 11:36pm

I've seen all this before. Good stuff when taken for what it's worth.
I'll bet it was written by a frustrated blues wanna be who violates most of those himself.
And ... any blues player referencing Jimmy Buffet ( moment of reverent silence please ) immediately looses cred points. The man has NEVER claimed to be a bluesman, and has made more money than half of all the blue acts put together, AND sells out everywhere he plays, AND does it in record time.

Matt

btw- just in case you're wondering, Elvis set and held most sell out records for years ..... JB had broken most of those.

One more thing ... the dudes from Philly, let him play outside in North Carolina in August and see if he still has a rule against shorts!

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Permalink Reply by Shawn on August 20, 2010 at 9:11am

You go Matt! If it's real it will be heard. My wife drug me to a JB show and I had a blast. If you can not get the crowd into it you will not go far no matter how good you think you are. I'm not good I know it but playing brings me peace after a long day of work.

Matt Towe said:

I've seen all this before. Good stuff when taken for what it's worth.
I'll bet it was written by a frustrated blues wanna be who violates most of those himself.
And ... any blues player referencing Jimmy Buffet ( moment of reverent silence please ) immediately looses cred points. The man has NEVER claimed to be a bluesman, and has made more money than half of all the blue acts put together, AND sells out everywhere he plays, AND does it in record time.

Matt

btw- just in case you're wondering, Elvis set and held most sell out records for years ..... JB had broken most of those.

One more thing ... the dudes from Philly, let him play outside in North Carolina in August and see if he still has a rule against shorts!