Dave Blair Music

The author Malcolm Gladwell gave me a renewed respect for traditional Country songwriting.  

You may have heard of the popular author Malcolm Gladwell.  He’s written 5 NY Times Best Sellers including Outliers, The Tipping Point and Blink, all…

I remember it clearly.  Back in 3rd grade I had to create a shoebox project of “what do you want to be when you grow up”.  Now most of the normal kids had things like Fireman, Policeman, Teacher, etc…

I’ve found that in life, the anticipation of getting hit is usually worse than the actually bruises themselves. 
Especially in the long run if it prevents you from living your life fully. 

That realization has been quite liberating, so…

In the Steve Jobs biography by Walter Isaacson, Steve discusses how a bootleg recording of the Beatles' "Strawberry Fields Forever" sessions helped him shape his business philosophy. 

Steve notes how the song became more complex and more perfect…

My voice teacher always spoke about how anyone can become a great singer with good training, practice and passion. This was particularly inspiring to me since when I started I had what many would consider no natural talent for singing…

Singers are always asking me, "what's the best live mic?" Well there really is no single "best microphone". A mic is like a pair of shoes, what fits one person perfectly might not fit another very well at all. That…

The original incarnation of the band we know today as Maroon 5 was originally a band with a very different sound and name. Kara's Flowers was formed by 4 of the 5 original members of Maroon 5 in…

Being a professional musician I get a chance to hear tons of original music by Indie songwriters. I play with plenty of bands, see other bands on the same bill, go to see all my friends shows, hear fellow indie…

When it comes to writing a song, or in any craft for that matter, some of the most interesting results come from when one breaks the rules. The one huge caveat that many songwriters forget when doing this is that…

Just watched Classic Albums making of "The Doors".   Amazing record.  Some albums that topped the Charts in 67.  Sgt. Pepper, The Doors, Axis Bold As Love, Disraeli Gears, Are You Experienced, Velvet Underground, Strange Days.  All in…

Went to my second Taxi Road Rally about a week ago and although I'll post some more of what I learned as I get around to it here are some of my impressions. For those of you not familiar with…

Musical/recording/groove tip of the day. If you hit the one in the pocket you can be really play loose on all the other beats and give it a cool push pull vibe. Listen to the Stones. Also dynamics, and note…

 The true goal of studying and practicing technique is to have it all become automatic…….At that point, you can just breath and sing.
Some feel that technique and singing with feeling are somehow at odds with eachother but when applied…

Here is copy of an email I sent to a voice teacher of mine after reading a few things that really pertained to what we have spoken about in class regarding the importance of consistent quality practice. Goes way beyond…

I’ve worked with probably hundreds of professional and amateur musicians of every level. And it never ceases to amaze me the vast variation of personalities, professionalism, perspectives on what is and is not acceptable, professional, etc. So at least…

Rules can be broken. But need to know rules before you can.Can break to get some effect, do for a reason.Know the parts of a songs structure and the purpose of each.CH, Verse, Bridge, Solo, intro, development, intro, outro, etc.Take…

So you want to know the entire history of classical music but don't have time to do a 4 year music history program at Julliard?  No problem here's my synopsis of all classical music over the last few hundred…

Way too often I hear original songs that start off real cool then somehow loose the listener, they are kind of run on or go nowhere. So here is my take on the “Chorus”. As I see it, verses are…