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My name is Ruben Cardos. I was born in 1965 and I have been an active musician since 1979, when my brother and I started to jam together. I tried to play guitar and Bill tried to play drums in our basement when we were living in Kitchener, Ontario. Yeah! That's in Canada.We finally got a good sounding trio going from 1985-87 called 'Fusion' with our dear friend, John Vice, on bass. Yeah John, I know you should've been black! And we did some cover songs and a couple of original pieces, too. We even actually played for money, not beer or popcorn on some occasions!
I have come a long way since then, both musically and geographically, as I have been living in Spain for some time now. Although, we did get a couple bands together in Canada in the early eighties, it wasn't till I came here to Spain that I really started to get a good theoretical backing in music.
I am, have been and always will be a pop and rock musician mainly and I really had a hard time in the late 80's when I wanted to put a good rock band together here because the musicians we had to work with didn't know the basic concepts of Rock music, unlike in North America. So I had to learn the international language of music to be able to describe these concepts to them in their terms to get the groups sounding right. It was quite a challenge back in those days, unlike nowadays where many people here now know how to get a good sound.
I was obviously challenged musically, but also soundmen and PA systems were very deficient and I had to learn all about sound, too. I had to use the electronics skills I learned in Canada to repair my gear, because there were very few technitians who were specialized in musical gear, and replacement parts were scarce or too expensive to obtain. Ever since Spain became part of the European Economic Union in 1992, all this has changed considerably.
Experience (time to blow my own horn. Sorry!)I am and have been an active live and studio musician all these years in all types of bands and what not: working bands, Pop/Rock bands, gospel, choirs, and more. I have taught a few summer guitar courses and have also worked with many types of PA systems and repaired all types of musical gear. (At least that's what I can remember off hand right now.)
The articles you will find in this site are mainly based upon my experiences and studies, and to the best of my knowledge 100% true and proved through that experience. If something outlined here doesn't work for you, it's because the concept may not be clear to you ...my apologies.
You can email me personally at rubencardos2@hotmail.com writing 'BandSuccess Help' in the subject line and I will get back to you as soon as I can if you would like me to explain something you didn't quite understand, or if you have any suggestions for this site.
Please, feel free to post comments on articles or anything relevant to a certain topic as many others can benefit from it, also. Thank you. HERE'S TO GOOD MUSIC AND PLENTY OF IT!
Sincerely: Ruben Cardos
PS: I will be adding more articles as time goes by, whenever I feel inspired or due to suggestions, So drop by often and see what's new.
PPS: I do speak perfect Spanish, so if you prefer to address me in Spanish, feel free to do so.
5 comments:
Ruben,
Nice blog! Thanks for stopping by GuitarGear and leaving a comment! I've actually done what you suggested, but my situation is a little different in that my stuff is almost always done in a church setting, so it doesn't get into the public much. I'm going to be attending a Catholic musicians conference in June to start hawking my demo to see where it goes. :)
Oops... forgot that you commented on the Mass Hysteria Band site! In spite of that, I invite you to come to my main blog at GuitarGear.org. I do lots of reviews on various kinds of gear, plus provide thoughts on the process of making music.
In reply to Goofydawg's first comment:
Another alternative might be to get as many church gigs as possible and set up a merch table. Maybe you've already thought of this, but the main idea is to sell the product to your fans first. Once you get a good following, record labels will take you more seriously. Remember that, although they're Christian, they're still businessmen. Don't forget this undeniable fact.
By the way, thanks Goofydawg you're welcome to stop by anytime!
Hello and thanks for your kind words about me. I'm still in Canada and still playing bass :) The Fusion years (Fushion as I wanted to spell it ;)) were the best days!
It was also I time where I became very structured about my playing to come up with good bass lines for originals. Maybe I could write something about that for your blog ?
- John Vice (aka Rockin' Johnny Vice)
John,
As Always, it's always very good to hear from you.
I often think back to those days back in the mid eighties when it all started to come together for us musically. I do look forward to the day we can play together again as that is something I would really enjoy.
As for the name, as long as it's good rock, any version will do.
I sent you an invitation to post whenever and whatever you like as I'm sure you're participation will be of great benefit to our visitors. Give us your best bass player insight. I can hardly wait to read it!
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