Nick/Demi Show

I saw the Nick Jonas and Demi Lovato tour tonight in Nashville.

Here are some things I learned or was reminded of…

-a great compressor on the vocal rights many wrongs and weaknesses 

-arenas aren’t that big

-if people pay more than $20 for a concert ticket, they need to believe they saw a GREAT show…even if it wasn’t

-Demi told us WE were one of her favorite crowds of the tour!!!

-there’s lots of money to be made via sponsorships, as someone will pay to put their name on anything in an arena

-you don’t need an encore built into your set

-if you’re the artist/front person on stage, everyone is looking at you all of the time

-the way your show looks, feels, flows, sounds like today is a lot like it will look, feel, flow and sound like when you play an arena

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

A Day Off

You need to learn to take one.

Most artists and people in the music business generally fall into one of two categories…

Those who do the least amount of work possible but act (and complain) like they do a lot…and those who work every waking moment, day in and day out..

This is for that second group.

It took me the better part of my 20’s to learn how to take a day off.  And that isn’t a pat on my own back…that’s a long, tiresome learning curve where I was not so pleasant to be around when it was time to take a break, go on vacation, celebrate, give attention to other things.  

Because I didn’t shut it off.

I couldn’t…or wouldn’t, because I didn’t know how and I didn’t think learning how was an important thing to do. 

But it IS an important thing to learn.

What really did it for me was getting around people who’s work ethic and success I really respected and realizing they DON’T work ALL the time.  But they work extremely hard when they work. 

And they vacation REALLY hard.  And spend time with their spouse, kids, friends, family REALLY hard.

Essentially, they’ve realized that turning it on (going to work) and turning it off are equally important.  On is not better than off.  And that you can never fully be on unless you’re willing to also be fully off.

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

All Of The Answers

All the answers of how to be a better band, to be the best band, have been laid before you.

Laid before you in blogs, interviews, magazines, documentaries, books, personal experiences and conversations.

All the information and answers have been written in black and white.  And chances are you’ve read them more than once.

So why aren’t you the band you want to be?

Because you’re not ready and willing to fully realize, believe and act on the answers to the riddle.

And that’s ok for now. You can be, in time.

Right now you’re too focused on the riddle. You love arrogantly talking about the riddle, speculating, complaining and comparing that you don’t have any energy for the answers that are right in front of you.

Slow down. Breathe. Open your eyes. Pay attention.  You’re engaging with the answers everyday.

p.s. When you don’t believe in them but they sound good, they’re called cliches.  When you understand and adopt them, they’re called by their real name, truths.

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

My MusicPro Insurance Claim

I’ll give the link again later, but feel free to skip this post and instead spend the time setting up your Music Pro Insurance.

It’s about $12/month for $10,000 worth of stuff.

Skeptical? Here’s exactly how my claim went.

My Marcus Miller Fender Jazz bass got stolen out of a van that broken into.  Inside the case of the bass was two 21 foot bass monster cables.

The bass and the cables were listed on my policy.

A police report was filed for the van break-in and the theft (you must file a police report if your stuff gets stolen).

I was actually out of town when the theft happened so it was a pal of mine doing all the work with the po-po.

The day after the break-in my pal sent me a picture of the Citizen’s Information Notice…one piece of paper from the cop with a bunch of info on it including the official report #.

See, when the police come and take down all the info, the actual full report itself isn’t  available to get a copy of until 72 hours later.

But once I had the Citizen’s Info Notice, that’s all Music Pro needs in order to get things going.

I emailed Music Pro about what happened and a guy named Mark called me the same day.  I missed his call and we spent the next 5 days playing phone tag. Yuck.

We finally connected on the phone. Mark is a nice guy, but Mark is not a music guy.  He works for the parent insurance group that Music Pro is owned by.

I explained everything to him, and went through the stolen gear that was insured through the policy.  He set the wheels in motion and said my claim would be reviewed in the next couple days.

Sure enough, a couple days later I got an email saying a check was going in the mail for me in the amount of….ha, I’m not gonna tell you that.

BUT, the amount was less than it was supposed be.

What had happened was two things that caused confusion ….1) The Marcus Miller Jazz bass stopped being manufactured in 2014…2) There were still companies (falsely) advertising that they had it at a drastically reduced price…and Music Pro was using this price as the replacement value.

So I got on the phone with Fender customer relations and had them send Music Pro an email outlining these details along with the regular price that the bass was sold for when it stopped being manufactured in 2014.

Once my man Mark received this email he had my claim reviewed and the additional funds added to the check.

I will have the check tomorrow and my stuff got stolen 12 days ago.  

That’s pretty legit.

All in all , over the 12 days I talked to my main man Mark twice, emailed with him four times, talked with Fender once and emailed with Fender once.

Pretty freaking easy.  And no one was a jerk.


If you are at all serious about music, go get gear insurance.

If you don’t, you are an idiot.

If you don’t, you are not serious about music.

And you’re serious about music. Go.

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

Light In Your Eyes

If you can’t see the light, the light can’t see you and neither can anyone else. 

The eyes are the window to the soul, and the soul is the connecting piece.

Now hopefully the lights are hung in such a way that you’re not getting annoyingly blinded.  But at least if you are, you know the people can see you.

The spotlight operator can make or break a moment. (so tip him)

But as it pertains to you…

Use the light (and dark) to your advantage, on purpose. 

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

Satisfy The People Accordingly

Check out our new awesome album!!!…for the fans.  Fans want to HEAR (not buy) the entire album…the super fans (don’t want to buy the album) want to buy the Super Deluxe VIP Limited Edition Package.

Check out our new awesome song!!!…for the people.  Don’t point the masses to your album, that’s too much.  Point them to the one song, the smash.  And it better be a smash…and the artwork, picture, colors, the words used in the FB post, tweet, snap better be on point.

Go and satisfy the people accordingly.

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