Learn vs. Do Wrong

What did you learn?…is not the same as…What did you do wrong?

It’s easy to make the mistake of answering the first question as though it was the second.

‘What did you learn?’ holds so many more possibilities looking toward the future.

***And pertaining to the things that were done wrong…if you’re not willing to reframe them in a learning lens they’re probably not worth rehashing in the first place.

Don’t miss a post. Sign up for free.

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

The Best Parts Of The Band

The best parts of being in a band are the boring parts.

When you’ve run out of adrenaline, no cheering crowds, all the funny stories have been told, everyone’s maxed out on internet and podcasts.

It’s in the boredom that each person shows a deeper glimpse of who they truly are. And those are the parts that we all want see in others, and also reveal ourselves.

And for better or worse…there’s a lot of boredom in bands, especially in the beginning.

But that’s how and why bands can become so close. It has everything to do with how you experience the boredom. What happens in the boredom. What you do with the boredom.

Said another way…

“The only true currency in this bankrupt world is what you share with someone else when you’re uncool.” - Lester Bangs in Almost Famous

Boredom is uncool. There’s lots of boredom in bands. There’s lots of ‘true currency’ in bands.

Don’t miss a post. Sign up for free.

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

Memorizing Piano

When I was a kid I had to take piano. My mom was right I wish I would have kept with it.

Here’s the thing…

I was much better at memorizing the music than reading the music.

So my process was, I would work and think really hard in order to memorize it so I wouldn’t have to think about it anymore.

That was the fun part. And I would play it as fast as I could too.

But after a few days or weeks or months of cruising along without thinking…the thinking would creep back in.

And once I started thinking again I made a lot of mistakes, sometimes I forgot whole parts of the song as I was sitting at the piano…and it was really hard to go back to the ease of not thinking.

The muscle memory was gone…or spotty at best. It felt impossible to simply tell myself to stop thinking and just play.

I, begrudgingly, had to go back to the music and figure it all out again before I could move forward.


So the sequence is something like this…

Thinking/Learning (difficult)

Not Thinking/Muscle Memory (fun)

Re-Thinking/Understanding (meaningful)

Knowing (longevity)

Don’t miss a post. Sign up for free.

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

Wheel Of Fame

As soon as the story (on social media, interviews, podcasts…and in your own head) turns into ‘We’re getting more and more famous’ you’re in the wheel.

You will always have to be getting more famous. More fame (not merely fame itself) is what you’ve decided it’s all about.

If there isn’t at least one more person at the next gig, one more view, one more like, then there isn’t really anything worth talking about.

And for a lot of artists, if you really listen close, this is the only story they tell. Because they jumped in the wheel a long time ago without realizing it.

It’s time to change the story, or at least add to it.

I hope you’re getting super famous. But I hope that’s not all you’re doing.

Don’t miss a post. Sign up for free.

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

I Don’t Know What I’m Doing

Chad: “I don’t really know what I’m doing.”

Charlie: “Well what are you doing?”

Chad “I’m….”

And Chad always has a response for that question.

See, it’s rare that you don’t know what it is you’re doing. You always know what you’re doing.

As it turns out ‘I don’t know what I’m doing’ usually means one of two things…

1. I know what I’m doing, I just don’t know what comes next.

2. I know what I’m doing, I just I don’t know if what I’m doing is going to get me the result I hope for.

ok there’s one more…

3. I don’t want to be held responsible for the outcome of what I’m doing, and no one can blame an under informed, under educated person. So I’ll act like I’m that person.

In regards to #1…You’ll know more when you get done with what you’re doing, which will inform what to do next.

In regards to #2…This is the set of hurdles you’ve chosen. No one knows if it’s going to work.

In regards to #3…If this is who you want to be you’ll always have a place in the middle.

Don’t miss a post. Sign up for free.

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

A Head Full Of Dreams Doc

I went to an actual movie theater tonight.

Coldplay’s new documentary A Head Full Of Dreams. It’ll be streaming on Prime Now on Friday and you must watch.

Especially people in bands. Solo artists: It’s going to make you wish you were in a band. Fair warning.

I could make every post from now until the end of the year about this doc, but alas I’ll probably keep it to only this one post and highlight two things.

1. Bands are awesome. They have a different soul. That weird, magical, elusive, rare chemistry. To be a part of it and to be around it is inspiring.

2. You’ll remember that during the Viva La Vida phase Coldplay wore those multi-colored military jackets. Kind of a modern day rehash of the Sgt. Pepper jackets.

What you’ll see in this doc is that the jackets didn’t begin when it was time to promote the record and do interviews and videos and the PR run around.

The jackets started while they were recording the album!

It wasn’t an idea invented for PR, it was an idea invented to inspire in the studio…(and then it turned out to be a great marketing aesthetic too).

I’m amazed at the creative intentionality when no one else was watching.


Stream it this weekend and do something with the energy burst that follows.

Don’t miss a post. Sign up for free.

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