Uh-Oh Moments

There are moments.  Moments where all you can say is “uh-oh”.  Saying uh-oh usually means that the only way to move is forward, but it’s not going to be pretty.  There’s no legitimate chance of turning back and you’re about to suffer a little…you’re about to earn a badge.

There comes a point around 150 or 200 shows where I hope you can (and you should able to) avoid all of the following uh-oh moments.  But if you don’t have that many shows under your belt yet…I actually wish these upon you, in the friendliest way possible.  You need to get roughed up a little.

Here’s some uh-oh moments…

When you show up to the venue on time and literally no one else is there

When you show up to the venue, one guy goes in to check-in and comes out smiling

When another band on the bill asks to borrow your bass

When the sound guys asks if you brought microphones

When you are not insanely famous and the barricade is set up 20 feet off the front of the stage

When the lighting guy thinks it’d be a cool effect to “go dark” in the middle of a chorus

When the venue manager asks if he can pay you in deer meat (true story)

When there’s not a stage

When there is a “band house provided” in the contract

When the production manager asks where the horn section is, when there’s no horn section

When the drummer expects the bass player to have extra batteries for the metronome

When the entire front of the stage is lined with peoples’ beers (spoiler: they’re eventually getting knocked into your pedal board)

When anyone asks if they can pay you later

Send me your moments, and if I get a bunch of good ones I’ll do another post with a  compiled list.

I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com

Perspective On The Rules

You have to be tall to be in the NBA
Unless you’re fast

You have to be fast to be running back in the NFL
Unless you have powerful legs

You have to be a great hitter in the MLB
Unless you’re a pitcher in the AL

This works in music too

You have to be a great singer
Unless you’re a great leader

You have to have a major label
Unless you have a great plan

You need a big break
Unless you can goals and reach them daily/monthly/yearly

You need a great drummer
Yep, that one is true

In this day and age you have to figure out which rules to break, which to bend, and which to play by.  It’s worth taking time to re-examine what rules you believe in, and asking yourself if you need to update you’re perspective.

Stretch. Push. Invent.

I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com

Into The Wilderness Alone

If you’re not creating on your own, you’re not creating your best work.

It’s even known (years after the fact) that most of the Lennon/McCartney songs came from one of them bringing the other one an idea 70 or 80 percent of the way there.

You have to be willing to walk into the wilderness alone.

There you can wander, chase melodies, chase words, stumble, keep going, find chords, see a million mirages before finally arriving at the waterfall.

In a co-write starting from scratch it’s a victory to come away with a song that’s mediocre.  A victory for the writers, not the listeners.  (You chose to do this for a living, so you’re going to need some listeners.)

When you go it along, you don’t celebrate mediocrity as much.  There’s no one to impress, so when you arrive at mediocre you either push through or change direction…you don’t spend the afternoon gloating in it.

Write with other people, create with other people, bring unfinished ideas to people, be willing to accept help and creative direction.  But don’t forget the difficult, thankless, un-sexy, scary, time suck, amazingly life-giving and fulfilling part of mapping new territory on your own.

Tell everyone when you find something good.

I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com

The Opposite Of Talking

The opposite of talking is listening

The opposite of talking is not waiting

The opposite of talking is not thinking

The opposite of talking is not checking out

The opposite of talking is not getting through it

The opposite of talking is not building your rebuttal

The opposite of talking is not dismissal

Listening to the world around you will change the world around you.

I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com

Attention vs. Missing Out

I watched the latest season of House Of Cards in an embarrassingly short amount of time.  Something like 13 episodes, roughly 50 mins each. Do the math….no I’ll do it for you, that’s almost 11 hours dedicated to a single entity.

I was captivated. Obviously it did a great job of keeping my attention.  

But the reason I was able to blow through all 13 episodes, without blinking, didn’t have to do with my attention span…it had everything to do with the fact that I didn’t believe I was missing out on something else better.

People have long attention spans. Really long. Regardless of what you read telling you the opposite.

Attention spans become irrelevant as long as you can make me feel like I’m not missing out on something else.

The goal is to make people forget that there even is something else.

The shift in focus is a shift toward what’s really happening.  Doesn’t mean it’s any easier, but at least you’ll be battling the right dragon. So whey you slay it, there’s actually a prize.

If you can make people forget about missing out, you win.

p.s. I’ve also watched a good bit of Scandal. Definitely keeps my attention. Definitely feel like I’m absolutely for sure missing out on something better.  So I stopped.

I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com

Why You Had A Bad Time At SXSW

There’s a really well written, funny, satirical article going around about a band at SXSW having a miserable time.  It’s a worthwhile article. Hilarious and sad at the same time.

Lot’s of people are using this article to boo-hoo being an artist at SXSW, to point the finger at everyone else…avoiding responsibility.

But SXSW last week was a place where the yakkers and talkers won. So in this case, some people were natural winners, but everyone had the potential to be winner.

If you showed up to SXSW after a year of being a hermit, writing, tweeting, dreaming from your living room, certainly you didn’t expect to excel in a social environment.

You’re like Pee Wee showing up and expecting to do well at a cross fit competition.  

You need to get out of the house.

You’re surprised you couldn’t and can’t get along and connect with people, but you haven’t initiated conversation in ages, and thats what SXSW is, and also what life is made of. Connection.

If you’re willing to connect, to put yourself out there and talk to people, you can always avoid taking ten steps backward at an event.  And I might even go so far as to say you can turn anything into at least a baby step forward.

So congrats to the winners, you deserve it. Losers, start practicing for next year.

I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabethebassplayer@gmail.com