While playing chords on a bass is nothing new, the practice has long been considered a little taboo. But now that players like Thundercat are making chordal playing more prominent, it may be time for you to get your chord chops in shape. In this article I’m going to outline some of my favorite voicings on the four-string…
Congrats on getting the big gig! Whether you’re preparing for your band’s first show or your album-release party, these tips will help you learn how to promote your band, make your best impression on stage, and get invited back to the venue to do it all again. At Least One Week Before Put up posters…
With Soundfly Mainstage, you’ll get personalized mentor support and feedback on your work over a six-week course session, whether you’re looking to write music for a string quartet, improve your understanding of composition, or insert more climactic emotion into your harmony, and more! Introducing irregular time signatures into your compositional practice can be a liberating…
I’m not someone who regularly uses tags to discover new music on discovery platforms such as Bandcamp and SoundCloud, so I often forget to or let laziness overcome my ability to tag my own music to make it more searchable. But, like any other kind of metadata out there on your band, tags are a simple and…
This last January, some very good friends of mine in the Arizona band Sundressed woke up in Salt Lake City to their trailer stolen. It was later found but all the gear was emptied and they were out almost $10,000. On top of that, their tourmates, Papertowns., had their van break down in California and…
+ Wanna learn how to turn the intersections between jazz and modern hip-hop into creative gold? Soundfly’s new course with jazz pianist and beat producer, Kiefer, on keys, beats, and chord changes, comes out this October! Hop on our mailing list now. When most people hear the word improvisation, they immediately think of jazz, but limiting improvisation to the…
Whether we are firing up the van for a coast-to-coast tour or showing up for our first open mic, we as performing musicians must hold ourselves to professional standards. Of course, we will still maintain our DIY-punk aesthetic onstage, and in our day to day lives. But when it comes to our bands, we take things…
Already sold? Click here and here to tell your representatives to support international artists who want to tour in the US. The USA is a notoriously difficult place to tour for international artists — from the difficulty and unpredictability of having to apply for visas, to being subject to intense questioning from TSA and customs officials for traveling with instruments,…
One of the worst things about being an independent musician is the feeling of stasis: when you have no shows coming up, or you just put out an album, but you still feel like you’re going nowhere. You feel powerless against the forces of the music industry and the insane number of other people just…
During a live gig, the relationship between the artist and audience is beyond that of simply performer and observer. Physically and emotionally, there’s little separation between both parties and a huge deal of direct interaction, both explicit and subliminal. Self-assurance is essential and, as with so much in life, confidence is the key. If a…
