What makes a marketer/musician/businessman/individual truly “great?”
This is the ongoing debate I’ve had with a friend of mine. He believes greatness (particularly in the political arena) is defined by being “the smartest person in the room.” I disagree.
It’s not just about being the best, smartest, or fastest, or knowing the most notes, or helping others. Greatness is also defined by your limitations.
Can you look at a situation, acknowledge that you can’t pull it off alone, and bring in the pros? Can you hire for your deficiencies rather than just employ people who think like you? Do you play with musicians who are better than you or strive to be the best musician in any project?
I am TERRIBLE at arranging music. I like to write tunes and noodle around a bit with it but when it comes to arrangements I’m lost. Back in Chicago I discovered an awesome piano player and arranger. No matter how uncomfortable I felt with his suggestions, I did my best to implement them because I knew he had a skill set that I did not have.
It is hard to stifle yourself when you disagree with an idea, but sometimes that is exactly what you have to do to grow and become great.
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I’m still on the boat in Cabo so this is going to be a quick one -
I met a new buddy on the boat. His name is Dave and he’s a music teacher in Mesa, AZ. We had a great time with terrible impersonations during a karaoke contest – he was the Elton John winner, while I attempted (and later withdrew) a bid to become the boat’s official Britney Spears. (pictures forthcoming)
Although I didn’t learn a whole lot about him, I respect the heck out of anyone who can ditch the self consciousness and hop on stage for a tune or two – particularly one that they haven’t practiced.
That made me think about this week’s tip: If you’re trying to make a career out of playing, being a great musician is really important. That said, being a great performer is just as important. If you’re new to performing, you will be nervous your first time…without a doubt.
The best way to get over those nerves is to practice, right? But how do you practice being on stage without actually being onstage at a paid gig? Simple. Karaoke. This might sound kinda goofy, but it will help you:
- Be on a stage in front of people.
- Learn to be ok with making mistakes during a performance.
- Get past your nerves and relax while performing.
- Deal with pre-performance jitters.
- Depending upon the venue, adjust to lighting, hecklers, bad sound systems, etc.
This one might not apply if you’re on stage regularly but should prove to be a simple (and free) practice technique for the newbies.
Anyways, thanks to Elton John from Mesa for this week’s tip!!!!
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A popular guitar forum that I frequent gets a lot of these types of questions:
1. How do I learn how to shred?
2. What scale is this (random notes that have nothing diatonically to do with one another)?
3. How can I make my sweep picking faster/better/whatever?
4. What chords are these (random, again meaningless triads)?
I have advice for those guys – quit it. Your perspective above is wrong. While technique and theory are really important, they aren’t the most critical part of music. The most critical aspect of music is, of course, being musical. It takes time, practice and self-critique to develop musicality. If you aren’t doing that you are missing the MOST IMPORTANT part of development as a guitarist.
If you want 4% of the male population to geek out while you play 64th note sextuplets at 240 BPM, sweet – keep the practice up. On the other hand if you want to have a chance of taking your career anywhere you need make good music, not technical music, so stop being a guitar player and start being a musician. Stop f***ing shredding!
Two quick questions:
1. How many great shredders are there who have made it big? Like “do it for a living” big?
2. How many mediocre guitar players have made it big because they are incredible musicians/songwriters/performers?
If your answer to #1 is less than your answer to #2, you need to adjust your practice schedule so that it is more in line with a long term goal that looks like #2.
One great way to do this is take lessons on another instrument or from a good instructor who teaches on another instrument. Find a great piano player, tell him what you’re trying to do and get him to work with you on musicality. He can’t give you tips on technique because he doesn’t know any. 
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Made this instructional video on how to structure your practices for ultimate productivity. NSFW. Oh, and the neck beard is optional…Enjoy.
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I just started reading and contributing to a big guitar forum. Lots of the players ask questions about keeping their guitar in tune. Although there are a lot of factors that influence this (string winding being a big one), one that is often overlooked is temperature. This is particularly important during live shows.
Let’s use an example – you drive to a venue in your air conditioned car, leave your guitar in the air conditioned green room, tune it up, get on stage and under the lights and you sound terrible. Has this happened to you? It sure has happened to me! You should always allow time for your guitar to adjust to stage temperature before you start playing.
If possible, take your guitar out if its case, put it on stage (particularly if you’re under lights or playing outside) and let the thing adjust to temperature. THEN tune the guitar. You will notice an immediate improvement in your ability to stay in tune throughout your first set.
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When you talk to someone do you think about one word at a time? Hello….how….are…..you….doing? No – we think and communicate in phrases, completed thoughts or ideas. Your solos should be the same way. Playing riff 1, then riff 2, then riff 3 is a lot like speaking or thinking one word at a time. Your listener hears “blah blah blah” without receiving your musical idea. Instead, try putting riffs (“words”) together in groups with natural pauses in between. This will make your solos flow a lot better and help communicate a musical idea instead of just blowing chops in musical “run on sentences.”
What’s a natural pause? It’s the pause that happens in a conversation when you need to stop talking to think or inhale. One way a lot of guitar players do this is by singing along with their solos – if you do this, you’ll be forced to stop playing for a moment to breathe in. This phrases your solo a lot like spoken/sung words. Don’t worry if your singing voice sucks – nobody but you will notice it with your Marshall turned up to 10.