More Tools

A few weeks ago Lebron James hit a game winning shotin the NBA playoffs.

It was a weird, off balance, sideways shot.

He didn’t have to shoot that shot, but he thought that was the best shot to take given the situation…and it certainly worked out.

It turns out he’d practiced that weird, off balance, sideways shot before. He told reporters he’d practiced it before, and teammates said the same thing.

Practicing that shot was never a requirement. But he rehearsed it anyway.

Practicing a shot that he didn’t have to practice equipped him with another tool to use when it came time to need a tool like that.


It’s the same way for you. You need more live show tools. Little extra tools, maybe not to be used every night, but to be used when the situation calls for them.

These tools can be acquired by trying things when you don’t need to so that when you see the opportunity later, you will have done it before.

And if you’ve tried it before it’s more likely to be a success next time.

Running the aisles, dancing, standing on the drum kit, doubling the last chorus on the fly, changing the melody, giving a speech during the bridge, thanking the venue staff, talking about the city you’re in…the list goes on.

Try these things when you don’t have to, so when you do have to you’ve done it before.

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

Name Recognition

The first, most important thing for name recognition is for people to see your name to begin with.

I’m amazed that I still go to shows (big and small) where the opening bands don’t have their name on a banner or a kick drum…everyone around me asking “Do you know who this is?”

What a shame. You got the gig. You overcame the odds. You rehearsed the show. And you’re up there being great…

…but no one knows the name of the act.

No one knows perhaps the most important thing about you in regards to carrying and passing the torch on your behalf.

A great way to get the name recognition ball rolling is for people to see your name.

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

24hr Restaurant

A restaurant that’s known for being open all night effects the type of people who come in during the day too.

The type of person eating there during the day is eating at the type of place that’s open all night.


The thing that is most defining about you permeates all facets of you career and business.

What you are known for effects all the areas you’re not known for.

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

If You Want People To Post About You

If you want people to post about you, you could…

-play a guitar solo behind your head

-run to the back of the room and stand on the bar

-bring someone up on stage to dance

-climb the speakers

-have more awesome than normal lights

-wear a weird hat

-wear a gorilla mask

-put the bass player on your shoulders

-wave a flag

All of these work.

But the catch is: they only work if you do them in front of people.

And that’s what makes them scary.  You can’t edit or redo it or start over. You have to do them in front of people in real time for them to work…but doing them in front of people also means they could not work, they could fail.

The ideas listed above will work.  But envisioning yourself doing them in front of actual people probably injects fear, which causes you to think I’m wrong.

(I’m not saying the above ideas are necessarily the ones you should use…the list could be three pages or thirty pages long, but it wouldn’t change the point of this email)

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

The Pre-Sold-Out Tour

Every artists dream.  All the tickets to all the shows already sold out even before tour rehearsals start.

Awesome.

But…

It’s hard to be a better performing artist when the tour is already sold out.

In the short term it’s not worth the time and effort. The tour is sold out. So what’s the point? Artists want to get better so that more seats are sold.  But now all the seats are sold.

An already sold out tour means the money is in your hand so…

…now becoming a better performer doesn’t make you anymore money than if you just coast for the next six or twelve months.

An already sold out tour means the money is in your hand so…

…you can buy more fireworks and dancers and laser lights…the easier and more sexy  additions to the show that have the power to enhance…and yet distract…Distract the crowd from how mediocre the performer might actually be.

But here’s the thing to remember.  If the tour is sold out and you decide to coast all tour long…you won’t be aware of the consequences until the NEXT tour.

A great indication of how effective your show was in a city is what happens when you come back.

And if you coast because the tour is already sold out…the numbers will decrease next time and you will have to go through the even harder work of CHANGING your reputation instead of BUILDING it (which is to keep becoming a better performer all the time, never coasting even when the tour is pre-sold-out).

So when the tour is sold out and you have a pile of money…go buy all the video screens, backup dancers and hire three drummers, that would be awesome.  

But most of all YOU need to be great. Never forget that.

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

You May Listen To 1% Of The Music

People pay $10 a month for Spotify because Spotify has, for all intents and purposes, all the music ever right at people’s fingertips.

So “Pay $10 for all the music”…that’s a pretty amazing deal.

But people don’t listen to all the music.  In fact any given user listens to way less than 1% (300,000) of the 30million songs on Spotify.

So the truth is…”Pay $10 and listen to 1% of the music out there”.

1% would be plenty!!!! But no…We wouldn’t respond to that message.  That message sucks. Even though that’s exactly what we all do.

It’s ‘all the music’ that gets us excited enough to sign up even though we’ll never consume anywhere near what we are paying for.

‘All the music’ is what entices us and makes us feel good about spending our $10.  

Both marketing messages are true…but they certainly strike us in different ways.

There’s a difference between what’s true and what’s useful.

What’s useful needs to be true.

But what is true isn’t always useful.

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