Season 4 - Episode 3: Korey Hicks - The Mind, The Ear and The Hand

This week I’m talking with Korey Hicks from Visible Music College. Korey Hicks is the Head of both the Music Theory and Guitar Divisions globally at Visible Music College, one of the premier Christian institutions of higher learning in the country. In addition to being a professor and guitar teacher, Korey spent years playing in the House Band at Billy Bob's Texas (aka, the World's Largest Honkytonk) and has opened for Willie Nelson, REO Speedwagon, Dwight Yoakam, John Fogerty and dozens of other big artists. We are discussing what it’s like to teach 70 guitar students a week, the difficulty of auditioning for large scale music venues as a house band musician and learning to love the process of practicing on a regular basis.

Sponsors: Edenbrooke Productions - We offer consulting services and are offering listeners a 1-hour introductory special. To request more info on consulting services, email Marty at contact@johnmartinkeith.com. 

In this episode we discuss:

*What it’s like to teach 70 guitar students a week.
*Journaling your practicing regiment.
*Cycle 4 ( the Circle of Fifths backwards).
*How to learn 600 songs in a month.
*Using the mind, the ear and the hand.
*A musician is only as good as the number of songs they can play.
*The difficulty of auditioning for large scale music venues as a house band musician.
*Think like an arranger, not a guitar player.
*If you want to make music for a living, you have to work at like a full time job.
*Working for Visible Music College.
*Be efficient.
*Perfect pitch vs. relative pitch.
*The Performance Gap.
*What students learn from Korey at Visible College.
*Be fearless, say yes to as many gigs as possible.
*Play music you don’t particularly like.
*Work on your ear training.
*Learn to love the process of practice.
*Use a practicing journal.
*Cover bands make more money that artists who write original music as a whole.
*https://visible.edu/

BIO:

Korey Hicks is the Head of both the Music Theory and Guitar Divisions globally at Visible Music College, one of the premier Christian institutions of higher learning in the country.

On his way to creating a sustainable career in the music industry, Korey has played over 4000 live performances in the last 25 years and has been blessed to share the stage with some of the biggest names in contemporary music. A stylistic chameleon, he has played in a wide variety of genres, including Country, Worship, Pop, Rock, Jazz and Blues on some of the most iconic stages in the country. Venues include playing for years in the House Band at Billy Bob's Texas (aka, the World's Largest Honkytonk), and opening for Willie Nelson, REO Speedwagon, Dwight Yoakam, John Fogerty and dozens of other big artists.

He is an Alumnus of Berklee College of Music, and graduated Magna Cum Laude from McNally Smith College of Music with a Bachelor's Degree in Guitar Performance.