‘What can I do for you?’ is often met with, ‘nothing’.
And because you know this, instead of asking the question you go ahead make an educated guess and take action without asking…
‘Here, I did this for you.’ is often met with, ‘thank you’.
You might not have done the exact right thing that was needed but it’s probably a lot better than nothing.
Would you rather get bad news while sitting on a beach in Hawaii or while on a rainy drive home from work?
The correct answer is the beach in Hawaii.
At the beach it’s easier to focus on the facts of the bad news and not the emotion of it. Because your emotions are being ‘distracted’ by the beautiful water and waves and sun and pina coladas.
On the rainy drive home it’s easier to blow it all out of proportion.
The trick is to develop a beach response while on a rainy drive home.
If you home life isn’t in order, the road is sure to tear you apart.
The road is hard enough on its own but if that’s all you have then you end up leaning into something that was never meant to handle the weight.
A solid home life is the only sustaining foundation and fuel that keeps you from going completely crazy out there.
And everyone will go a little crazy no matter what…but just before the road completely destroys you, you’ll remember that you have a home life worth keeping your sanity for. You can touch home base. Recalibrate. Whether it’s a phone call, facetime, or a few days or weeks at home. That anchor is everything.
Home life doesn’t have cheering fans, autograph lines and catering…it’s deeper than that.
Great song writers usually know lots of chords.
But you don’t get better at writing songs by learning more chords. Although you’re gonna need to know a few.
Chords are about music…songwriting is about expression.
And doing music for a career is about connection via expression.
»» I send out an email every Sunday about the popular songs of the week and in it I highlight the chords of the songs. It’s just a handful of chords.
Being on stage is a bad time to ask this question.
(That is, unless asking ‘what should we play next’ on stage is your thing, like Springsteen. Just like books aren’t choose your own adventure unless they’re choose your own adventure.)
You know the arc of your show (even if you don’t realize it). You know which songs usually do what. You know where the climax is gonna to be. You know that if the next song isn’t the perfect one for the moment, it might still be the best option you’ve got.
The show doesn’t get better by discussing it more, weighing all options and taking a band vote before getting on to the next.
If you’re on stage still choosing what song should go next, make a call and go with it.