Go Remember It

You had the style in mind. 

Your career in mind. 

You had the sound in mind. 

The unique gifts you would offer. 

You knew the way your fans would respond (with unbridled enthusiasm)

You knew the way people would respect you for speaking and singing your truth.

You built this beautiful story of how you and your music would make people happy, or dance, or pump their fists, or cry, or change the world, or change someone’s night.


And then competition got thrown into the mix.

That changed the path.  It turned.  It sent you clamoring.

Competition made you afraid of the things you knew, the things you believed.

Competition only has room for one on the gold medal stand…and so what if the ideas were wrong, and what if it doesn’t work out, and what if, and what if. 

It turns out that competition in music is one of the ways fear masquerades itself.

But you don’t have to come up with the answers (there aren’t any). You don’t have to compete.

You just need to remember.

Remember what you once knew so clearly.

Remember what your gut used to scream, but over the years and letdowns got silenced.

Go remember it.

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

Music Is Medicine

I have been sick on the road and then after the show I am not sick anymore.

I have been exhausted beyond belief and then after the show I am refreshed.

I have been on the down and outs and then after the show I am hopeful.

You can chalk it up to an adrenaline rush or whatever…but that can’t be it.  Some of the times I’ve been healed by playing music have been in the dingiest clubs for the lamest crowds.  Not a whole lot of raw adrenaline.

The music heals.

It’s a real thing.  Music not only has the power to move, but the power to heal.  Don’t forget what kind of magic and power you’re dealing with.

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

Rehearse At SIR

You should go rehearse at SIR.

SIR has fantastic rehearsal studios in a lot of the major cities.

When you rehearse in your mom’s basement everyone shows up late.  Everyone goofs off for a while, sets up sloooooowly, tinkers…ok now lets play a song…someone has to take a phone call, the drummer forgot to eat dinner, the singer needs even MORE of him in the speakers.

SIR isn’t cheap.  It costs just enough to sting a little.  Just enough for everyone to be aware that this is costing real money.  There’s expectation now.

Magically, people show up on time (and the band leader is sure to crack the whip to make this happen).  If you haven’t eaten, tough.  If you need to take a phone call, you can’t.

It’s time to rehearse. That’s it.  There’s a seriousness to it.  Everyone expects each other to be on top of it, to be professionals (at least for a night).

It’s costing you MONEY to practice.  

You take a step forward when you have a quality rehearsal.  You’re perfectly capable of having a quality rehearsal anywhere, but spending money on renting a GOOD studio space for the night is an excellent instigator of revealing that quality.

Spending money on practicing makes the practicing more valued by everyone.

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

Resisting The Write Break

Resist the urge to stop writing when you’ve released a project. 

You want to let up for a little while, since you’ve been charging so hard creatively.  You released a masterpiece and now you want a break…after all, you deserve it.

Resist that urge.

The writing is the thing that only YOU can do.  Much sooner than later you’re going to need the NEXT song(s), and if you’re out of practice you’re out of luck.  You’ve gotta stay toned.

But also, and this is almost as important…resist the urge, when you keep writing, to disconnect from the songs on your latest project. 

It always bums me out when an artist releases a record I love and five days later gives an interview where they say they’re over it and moving on to new songs for the next record.

The songs you’ve released are the songs we all expect you to be connected to…for our sakes.  Stay connected, don’t toss them to the side.

The new songs aren’t meant to replace the old ones (in our hearts and minds), but to be an addition-to.

Getting down to brass tacks…for all your fans know, you love the songs on your latest record more than anything in the world. They are personal, important, true and ambitious.

For all your calendar knows…it’s writing time.

Who else needs to think about this?

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

Ideas Are Like Mice

Great ideas are like mice in your house.

You see them and then they’re gone.  You go back and look where you saw them last, but they’re nowhere close.

You set traps in the places you think they might show up, and they’re always a no-show.

They’re fast, elusive and unpredictable.

You might have, luckily enough, caught a couple mice last season, but in no way does that mean you’ll be cunning enough to catch them this season.

You know there’s mice in your house but you can’t catch them.  It could drive a monk insane.  The harder you try, the more worked up you get, the more worked up you get the more paranoid you get, the more paranoid you get the more you think everything that catches the corner of your eye is a mouse.

It isn’t.

It’s when you’re sitting on your couch organizing the coasters on the coffee table that all of a sudden you see one scurry across the living room floor.

It’s on.

Go get it.

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

Activity Soothes Rejection

Activity soothes rejection.  It’s healthy distraction from the nay-saying.

If you want to be in the entertainment business, you better be ready to be rejected.  Early and often, and then still more and more as you go.

You already knew that.

Getting turned down for the gig, the meeting, the endorsement, the producer you wanted, the tour you were promised.  Lots of rejection in this business.  

It stings, but you have a say in how long it stings.

The remedy for the emotional toll of this rejection is activity.

Things going on. Movement (i.e. not sitting around).

The sooner you smack some activity on top of the rejection, the sooner it’s soothed and the burn goes away.

But if all you do is sit and stare at the burn and whine about how much it stings, you are giving fuel to the negative part of rejection.

Don’t do that.

Move. Do something. Go buy someone coffee. Write with someone. Help someone else.

You’re going to need a healthy amount of self-induced activity if you’re going to survive the inevitable emotional burn of rejection in this business.

Pass it on.


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