I'm a musician and host of The Unstarving Musician podcast. Liner Notes is my biweekly newsletter that shares some of the best insights garnered from the many conversations featured on the Unstarving Musician. Topics covered include, songwriting, touring, sync licensing, recording, house concerts, marketing, and more.
Unstarving Musician 331 | Musical Listening: The Art of Playing While Truly Hearing Your Band
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Happy Friday! What are you wearing? 😜 Here's another new episode for your weekend listening pleasure. Musical Listening: The Art of Playing While Truly Hearing Your Band 🎙 Musical listening is the secret that separates professional-sounding bands from technically correct but disconnected performances. This episode explores blues guitarist Kid Andersen’s “50% rule” and why listening should consume at least half of your mental bandwidth while playing. You’ll discover the technical mastery paradox that traps countless musicians, practical strategies for developing dual awareness between your performance and your bandmates, and advanced applications, including how rhythm sections use listening skills to lead without taking over. We’ll also delve into genre-specific listening approaches for jazz, rock, and acoustic settings, as well as how to read the room and respond to audience energy in real-time. The episode concludes by addressing a challenge many independent musicians face: staying current with industry trends without burning out or sacrificing actual practice time. Learn curation strategies and practical boundaries that protect your creative focus while keeping you informed and current. Whether you’re struggling to lock in with your rhythm section, missing dynamic cues during performances, or feeling overwhelmed by information overload, this episode provides actionable insights for developing the listening skills that transform good musicians into truly musical collaborators. Key topics covered:
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Liner Notes
I'm a musician and host of The Unstarving Musician podcast. Liner Notes is my biweekly newsletter that shares some of the best insights garnered from the many conversations featured on the Unstarving Musician. Topics covered include, songwriting, touring, sync licensing, recording, house concerts, marketing, and more.
From Consumer to Creator: A Strategic Approach to Audience Building The last two editions of Liner Notes focused on the art of listening while playing, with a reader spotlight on the issue of staying current without burning out. The Insider edition culminated in a report by The Unstarving Musician on digital overwhelm and the impact of information overload on musician health and artistry. This issue will focus on the question: instead of consuming everything, what if we focused on creating...
Happy Friday! Here's another new episode for your weekend listening pleasure. 🎧 330 Skulk the Hulking – Merging AI Visual Production, Music, and Performance Art 🎙 AI music production is revolutionizing how independent artists create and present their work, and Steve Pasieka (Skulk the Hulking) is creating visual art at the forefront of this transformation. In this episode, Steve shares how he evolved from live performance art and noise rock to creating a multimedia project that seamlessly...
"Listening should be at least half of what your brain is doing." —Kid Andersen, Guitarist & Record Producer In the last Liner Notes, we explored the foundational skills of listening while playing—Kid Andersen's 50% rule, practical strategies for dividing your attention, and basic techniques for musical awareness. These fundamentals are essential groundwork for what we're diving into today. There's a link to Part 1 of this series at the end of this email. Now we're moving beyond the basics...