Joining The Club

If you have any of these experiences it means you’re part of the club.  And among the wide range of artists in this club, there are lots of highly successful, household name artists in this club.  

So if you’ve gone through these or are going through these, you aren’t failing, you’re joining.

-you didn’t get paid what you were promised

-the big crowd was totally silent when you walked out on stage (probably because you were the opener)

-you found out after the show that the backup vocal mics weren’t turned up at all

-a truly awful, depressing, life numbing load in and somehow an even worse load out

-the fine print screwed you

-your lawyer lied to you

-you truly believed there were no more good songs that could be written

-the artist you know you’re better than got to do the thing you should have gotten to do

-your record tanked

-you over bought….no you waaaaaay over bought t-shirts

-you’re pretty sure no one cares about your career

-you equate “no one cares about your career” with worthlessness

-your drummer forgot there was a gig

-you have yelling matches over the setlist

-the gig you were really looking forward to got cancelled

-a person who you respect promised you something and then didn’t follow through


I will say…Not all of these are prerequisites (or necessarily merit badges) for being a successful rockstar member of the club.  They’re not causal.  It’s not “if you go through these things you will be Bruce Springsteen”.  It’s just that Bruce Springsteen has gone through a lot of these things.

Aka…you can go through all these things, be in the club, be able to say “me too”, and be 45 years old living in your mothers basement eating black beans every meal.  Not ideal.

I will also say…The club is worth joining. Worth it because of what you will learn if you take the time to notice.  

And the stories are amazing.  But I’d rather be telling the stories from on top of the garbage heap than underneath it.

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

A little more Hum Dinger

A very distinct visual memory I have from the Hum Dinger was this:

Each day that week as all the groups were figuring this thing out, our teacher Mr. T (Mr. Tollefson) would take a lap around the room to check in with each group and then just find a seat and observe the class while we worked.

The visual memory I have from him sitting surveying the class was there was always five or six or ten of us huddled around him saying the same thing:

“How do we do this?! JUST TELL US!!!!”

We would just circle him like a bunch of birds hoping he would give in to our whining.

He didn’t. He knew better. We did not know better.  We were 5th grade twerps who wanted the answer so we could be finished.

He knew the longer it took, while not giving up, the better the exercise.

So all he had to do was make sure we didn’t give up…he didn’t have to make sure we figured it out…he knew we would get it as long as we didn’t give up.

Again…almost everything you need to know about making it (or moving on from) the music business is here in the story of the Hum Dinger.

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

The Hum Dinger

In my 5th grade class our teacher had us do a week long project called The Hum-Dinger.

Here’s how it went.

At the front of the classroom on a chair was a brown grocery bag.  The teacher reached into the bag, apparently flipped a switch, and the contraption in the bag would hummmmmmmmmmmmmmm and then DING! then hummmmmmmmmm and then DING!

A Hum-Dinger. True to its title.

We split into groups of five.  

One person from each group was elected to go up to the brown paper bag at the front of the class room and was allowed to reach into the bag and feel the contraption as it was humming and dinging.

You couldn’t look inside the bag but could touch what was in there.

Then each group was given it’s own paper bag that we were instructed to dump out it’s contents on the middle of the desk.

So now, on our desk was all the same (disassembled) components of a Hum-Dinger and we were instructed to make a machine that hummed and dinged.

We’d all heard the machine. One of us had felt the machine. None of us knew where to begin building a machine like this.

So we began.

It was a lot of the one person trying to communicate what they’d felt in the bag.  Maybe this wire goes here, errrr, no, maybe this wooden dowel has to be connected to the paper clip and the paper clip is hitting the bell.  Lots of attempts, no solutions.

So that was Monday.

On Tuesday, new insight. Everyone from each group got to go up to the front and touch the machine that was inside the brown bag.

So now there was lot’s of new ‘expert’ opinions. No I felt this. No I think it was that.  There was a lot more talking about what to do than actual doing.

Wednesday everyone got to feel the machine again. Still not allowed to look in the bag.  

The second go-around with everyone in the group being able to feel how that machine worked seemed to be the tipping point.

We recognized that there were some parts that were just fluff, just for show.  They were only really there as a distraction and didn’t have anything to do with the hum or the ding.  

By this time we had the hum locked down, and were searching for a consistent ding to sound off intermittently.  

Our group figured it out Thursday…we were the second group in the class to get it.  When the first group figured it out before us we were all jealous and frustrated and wanted them to just show us how they did it so we could be winners too.

But when we got it (without the other group telling us how), it was pretty awesome.  

It hummed. It ding’d.  And that was the sound of success.


The sound of success sounds a lot different now.  Or what I want success to sound and look like.

I’ve decided not to point out every nuance and life lesson that this story so beautifully illustrates. 

Because honestly, there’s way too many for one blog post.

I’m pretty certain that everything about working, succeeding, failing, relationships and persevering in the music business is found right here in 5th grade building The Hum Dinger.

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

How Do You Know You Had A Good Show?

How do you know if you had a good show?

The most common answer, taken to the extreme is a version of:

“I knew I had a good show because when I got off stage Paul McCartney was standing there in tears telling me how amazing the show was.”

Here’s the thing: Now you need Paul McCartney at all of your shows.

Here’s the problem: Paul McCartney can’t be at all of your shows.

Here’s another problem: The shows that he is at, he’s not always going to be moved to tears, sometimes he only pats you on the shoulder and says ‘Good game’.

So now there’s ANOTHER problem: Paul McCartney was in tears one night and now is only doing a pat on the shoulder.  So now it’s not enough for Paul McCartney to be AT my show. And it’s not enough for him to think it was good and to tell me it was good…I NEED HYSTERICAL TEARS every night more than the last…else I just don’t know if the show measured up.

And of course Paul McCartney represents: the size of the crowd, the volume of the clapping, the size of the venue, your mode of transportation to the venue, the demographic of the audience, the line at the merch table, etc etc etc.

It’s never enough. Paul McCartney at your show waiting for you when you get off stage is not enough. Oh it would be an incredible thrill and I hope it happens, and please tell me the story when it does.  Come over and my wife and I will make you dinner (she is the master chef and I am in very much an assistant role).

Reassurance is a lonely race.  You always need a little more when you get a little more.  More on that here.

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

Utilizing All Your Potential

No one is going to come along and utilize all your potential. 

You’re going to have to do it. 

You are going to have to put your potential into practice, into action.  YOU are going to have to come along and utilize all your potential.

When ‘utilizing all your potential’ is put back into your court as oppose to someone elses’ court, I question how many of us are even actually willing to go there.

Someone can, and probably will, come along and utilize some of your potential, but then it will be your responsibility to figure out a way to up the ante and put the rest in.

I hope you do. I hope I do.

Will we?

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

Nightcap 16

I’ve had some phases in life where I let go of the handshake too early, sorry.

The truth is we all like getting looks from people, as long as they’re the people we want to get looks from.

We spend very little time talking about love but lots of time singing about it.

If you’re burned out it means you should have rested 6 months ago.

It’s not everyday that it’s today.

The Beatles had three lead singers but only two vocal mics on stage. It wasn’t because they couldn’t afford a third mic.

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