Speed Dating Round 1

The first session of GTBP speed dating is now in session.

The point here is similar, only it’s phrases instead of humans. 

Here’s a bunch of singles, spend a few seconds with each of them and see what suits to help you right now, today.  As your going through them, make a mental note of the one or two that perk your interest the most, come back to them, and spend some additional time with them. Maybe you were made for each other.

It’s better to focus on incremental breakthroughs than one big one. Incremental is always possible. Possibility encourages hope and hope, breakthroughs.

If you haven’t compromised in a while, people are talking about you behind your back.

If you haven’t stood your ground in a while, go get your sharp edges back.

You could become a better leader today…recognize and appreciate, starting believing and communicate to your team how valuable they are and how you couldn’t do it without them.

You can do two things with the attention you’re given: keep it for yourself or do something with it that benefits the world around you.

You know that problem that always happens in the middle of your live show, but it gets forgotten by the end of the show…once and for all, go back and fix that problem.

Because you are the boss (the artist), if you’ve got bad team members it’s your fault. Because you are the boss you have the opportunity and responsibility to do something about it.

Slow down, life is here today, right now. It’s not after you get through the uncertainty, or the hard times, it’s here and now…AND there and then.


Mingle with these singles.

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

Netflix- Still Watching? pt. 2

When you meet up with a friend, or bump into an old pal, or even meet someone for the first time, it’s pretty typical to ask some version of “How are you?” at the beginning of the conversation.  Totally comfortable and normal.

But wouldn’t it be strange if five or ten or fifteen minutes into the good conversation if the other person turned to you and asked “Hey, how are you?”

What? Why are you asking me this? What’s your deal?

That would be weird. And people don’t do that. You don’t do that.

It’s polite to ask that question at the beginning, not the middle or the end.

It’s a social rule that you abide by…until you get on stage.  You forget.


When I saw Foo Fighters in Atlanta a while back, after the second song Uncle Dave asked “How ya doin?”. It was awesome. It was the first words he spoke to the audience, we were waiting with baited breath to hear him talk.  It was also the only time he asked that question.  

So if you’re looking for a place to start when you’re thinking about the flow of the dialogue in your show: normal conversational patterns are that place to start. How do you start a conversation with a friend? How do you end it? What goes in the middle?

If you’re having trouble answering those questions, you might need to begin with some practice verbally speaking to your friends, family and the world around you.

Hey, how are you?

:)

p.s. The only real reason you ask any audience anything is in hopes of a cheer (and most artists are looking for a cheer as reassurance for themselves…although there are a few pros who understand that the cheer is actually for the audience).  

You’re obviously not looking for the actual answer to your question.  So you don’t have to ask them how they’re doing or feeling, you can ask them anything that’s worth cheering about and it serves the exact same purpose. 

You’re an artist. Get creative with it.



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

Netflix- Still Watching?

At this point in time we’ve probably all had it happen. I’m intensely focused on getting through several episodes of my favorite show and a mere two or three episodes into the multi-hour planned indulgence, Netflix feels the need to pause my show and ask…

Still watching?

OH THE CONDESCENSION!!!  The nerve to ask such a question. Is there a problem?  Was the fact that my eye balls are still glued to the screen not give you enough evidence that I am in fact still watching?  Did my optometrist or therapist somehow figure out a way to make a passive aggressive jab at me while I’m sitting on my couch?

Do I have a strained relationship with Netflix where it just doesn’t know me well enough to know that YES, yes I am still watching.


I feel a similar feeling when artists insist on asking the crowd four, five, ten times during the show, “Hey is everybody doing ok?”.

I’ll give you one. At the beginning of the show you can use the old cliche line as a means to take the temperature (but still, come on, you can be more creative than that).

But if we’re three-quarters of the way through the show and you’re still asking if “Everyone feelin good?”…it’s a slap in the face to anyone who is paying attention.  It’s condescending to your audience.

YES, everyone is good and ok and ready to have a good time…They didn’t leave…

They’re still watching.

p.s. If you need to take the temperature as opposed to FEEL the temperature, get more creative than “Is everyone doing ok”. You can do better.  

p.p.s. Feeling the temperature as opposed to taking it is an honor to your audience and a badge of true performance maturity for you.  It’s you instinctually knowing what to do without having to ask. Like an old married couple. 

But you’ll never learn to feel the temperature if all you do is keep taking it.  Feeling it is risky but educational.  Taking it is safe and forgettable.



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

If You’ve Almost Given Up

If you’ve almost given up, that’s a good start. If you’ve almost given up four or five times, you’re probably closer to success than ever before.

Almost giving up often unlocks new vision, new ideas, renewed drive…(side note: so can ACTUALLY giving up).

If you’ve never almost given up, it’s coming for you. So when you get there, don’t freak out. It’s a very familiar, often visited place for musicians.

Almost giving up, but not actually giving up, is very likely associated with getting to the end of a day or week or year and finally realizing you’re sick and tired of being sick and tired.  And that’s a powerful moment.

Getting mad and frustrated and discontented with things has been known to change things. Real change. Change in actions. Change in the way you carry yourself and the way you speak.

If you can harness the power of almost giving up, it just might be the best thing that’s ever happened to your career.

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

Alright Google: How Do You Start A Band?

If you google “how do you start a band” there’s a very clear answer given. It’s not a good answer but its very clear.

Most artists (well, I suppose most people in general) are looking for clarity.  The path seems confusing, are things working or are they not working, is my music good, do people like me, what’s the proper next step…I NEED SOME CLARITY!!

But don’t be so romanced by clarity that you automatically believe it’s the right answer.

You and I both laugh to ourselves that Google would have a clear answer at the top of the page for the question of “How do you start a band?”…because we all know there is no real answer, it’s incredibly messy, there’s no formula, there’s no clarity.

So for someone to be excited that Google has a clear “answer”…the clarity they FEEL, in truth, got them nowhere.  They’re no better off.  Clarity was no good, even though that’s what so many think they’re after.

The answer to “How do you start a band?” isn’t answered with clarity, it’s answered experientially.

Rather than searching, hoping, praying for clarity…ask “What’s the next experience that I can participate in that will lead me to where I want to go?” (spoiler…there is no clear answer on Google…I checked).

In this case it’s the lack of clarity that makes spending time with the question valuable.

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Here’s How Streaming Services Can Help Artists More

Artists should be able to see who users are listening to just before them and right after, so artists can get insight into what artists people relate to them, and perhaps what triggers someone to listen to them.  

It could set up some pretty fantastic touring packages too.  If artists A finds out that lots of people are listening to artist B just before them, it’s likely a tour of A and B would be pretty great.

Artists should be able to see how much of songs their listeners are listening to.  Are people really listening to the first song on the album or are they only listening to the first 10secs because it’s first on the list and then jumping to something else.

Better geographic detail of listeners.

What time of the day people are listening to which songs.

Integrate the touring section with the streaming data.  After you play Chicago is there a spike in streaming there? Or maybe there’s a spike in Chicago leading up to the show because your team worked hard on tour press?

All this data is there. We all know it is. Streaming companies are already using it for marketing, ads, building playlists, etc…artists should have access too.

p.s. I can’t back this up, but I would argue that artists getting this information could be more valuable than begging the streaming services for a better royalty rate.

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