Most of the people we look up to do two things very well…
Dig in the wilderness alone
Dig in front of people
Oh, then the third is to discern when each is called for.
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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabe@gabethebassplayer.com
When you do good work it makes other people look good.
It’s easy to forget that there are people leaning on you who really want you to do your job well.
You really want the booking agent to sign you. It’s easy to stop there and dwell on that.
The truth is the booking agent needs you to be good at putting on a magnificent show, so when she books your band, you look good…and thereby she looks good.
It’s worth it to stop and ask: When I do a great job at the thing I do, who else looks like a hero?
And if there’s even one person on that list, it’s an honor to be able to do that for them.
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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabe@gabethebassplayer.com
Most people are thinking ‘do I like this song or not’
It’s very simple.
But it’s not a conscious thought, that question is merely the underlying barometer of the action they’re taking.
They’re not literally asking that question, but instead they are turning it up or turning it off. There’s no hemming and hawing, or trying to figure out how to make the chorus better…there’s no DECIDING if the song is good.
I’m reminded of this every year during CMA week in Nashville. People from all over the globe come to Nashville because they like country music. They’re not concerned with how bro-country is too bro-country, or how pop the country song sounds, or if the co-writers were Nashville writers or LA writers, or if the act truly grew up in a small town and owned a pickup truck and had bonfires every night of the summer where the drank beer on a tailgate.
They just like it. They like the music.
And it an odd way, it’s always refreshing.
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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabe@gabethebassplayer.com
You must remember that you chose this.
It did not choose you. You don’t have to do this.
Every day you wake up and step into this business again, you are forgoing an infinite number of other things you could do.
But you chose this. So no complaining.
***This business owes you nothing and you deserve nothing. But you can learn everything and earn way more than you need.
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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabe@gabethebassplayer.com
When you’re at the biz party, talking biz, the spouse who is standing with them knows a whole lot more about the biz than you think they might. They’ve heard all the lingo, seen all the ups and downs…they know what you’re talking about.
So talk with both of them.
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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabe@gabethebassplayer.com
When George Martin told The Beatles to speed up Please Please Me by twenty beats per minute…how much was that worth?
If Rick Rubin walks into your session, snaps his fingers three times and your song turns into a smash…how much should he be paid?
All of a sudden you need a song mixed by tomorrow and the engineer who is booked six months out gets it done anyway…how should the payment be calculated?
Expertise doesn’t have an hourly rate. Neither does coming through for someone to relieve their anxiety, stress and fear.
It’s about transformation through expertise, not amount of time worked.
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I’m always interested in your perspective, whether affirming or dissenting. Continue the conversation anytime: gabe@gabethebassplayer.com