Rushing To The Next (Note)

Lead singers rush.

Guitar players rush.

The drums and bass try not to rush.

Even when I air drum in the car and there’s silence in a song I always start the fill too early to come back in.

Why are we always rushing? I have two ideas…

1. We don’t want to miss out on the excitement of the next note. The excitement of the next thing that’s happening. Like a kid on Christmas morning looking at a stack of presents and must dive in before it’s time to dive in. We just want to get there and the less waiting the better.

2. Silence is uncomfortable. The silence before the next note is uncomfortable and we long for comfort. So we rush to get to comfort. The discomfort of the silence (of the space between the notes) makes us momentarily antsy…longing for something to fill the space. So we jump the gun to gain comfort…to make sure that something is always happening.

I’d argue that the space between the notes is just as important as the notes. That there’s no need to rush.

I’d argue that the excitement will be there when you get there (you won’t miss it)…and will even be amplified if you’re willing to fully embrace the silence and space that come before it.

I’m talking about rushing in the context of music, but it serves as a pretty good metaphor for life in general.

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

If You’re Truly Thankful...

If you’re truly thankful

for the opportunity

for the show

for the people showing up

prepare and deliver in a way that you can walk off saying you’re welcome.

***When I say “saying you’re welcome”, I don’t necessarily mean speaking those words into the microphone. You’re Welcome is a posture…a posture of connecting, serving, gratitude and confidence.

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

Caring About And For

It seems we have virtually unlimited capacity to care about things…

…and an extraordinarily limited capacity to care for things.

We’re here because we not only care ABOUT music but we care FOR it. We take care of it. We breathe into it. We do the thankless work. We work all night so someone can enjoy two and a half minutes six months from now.

We all care about lots of things but care for very few. There’s only so much time in the day.

So if we choose to care for music and the business of it, let’s make it count.

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

One Republic- Sunny Opener

Last summer I saw U2 on the Joshua Tree tour. Loved it.

It was at an outdoor stadium and outdoor stadiums have noise ordinances for how late into the night the noise is allowed to go.

With that in mind, it’s vital that U2 start on time.

In order to make sure U2 starts on time, the opener has to go on pretty early.

i.e. The opener has to go on while it’s still sunny out.

One Republic was the opener. They played 40minutes of all hits. Front to back songs that everyone had heard before on the radio.

But it was sunny out.

So the video screens were washed out. The lighting had little to no effect on anything. It was hard to see the band…certainly couldn’t see any faces.

It basically looked like a high school band playing a county fair during the lunch rush.

(it wasn’t, but that’s what it looked like)


Opening for U2, that’s a good gig. A gig you can’t turn down. And if you have a bunch of hits, you might even convert some people.

In a lot of ways, as far as opening gigs go, it was tee’d up for One Republic.

But it was sunny out. So it was forgettable. (Except for my ‘one republic- sunny opener’ note I wrote in my phone)

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

Attention Isn’t Selfish

It’s what you do with it that counts.

When you walk on stage the spotlight is on you.

No need to down play or deflect the attention.

A stage and a spotlight are a bad place for people who think of attention as something to get rid of, as something that’s selfish and innately narcissistic.

Your fans, your audience needs you to accept their attention and know what to do with it. To not shy away from it, but step into it with the possibility of magic happening.

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

The Last Thing...

The last thing you’re going to do is leave them (the audience).

You need to make them wish you didn’t have to leave.

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