I recently came across a book written by legendary musician Victor Wooten. I have been an admirer of Wooten for quite some time now, and I was instantly intrigued. The subtitle turned me off a little bit, promising a "Spiritual Search for Growth Through Music." The thought of more hippie/new-age/manifest-your-destiny spirituality made me a little uneasy, and unfortunately in that department the book does offer heavy doses yoda-style philosophizing. But what I did find valuable about this book is that it provides a unique point of view on the elements of music from a master musician, and plenty of thought provoking encouragement to inspire some new directions and confidence in your playing. For that I tip my hat off to Wooten, for sharing some insights that he has learned in his decades of performance.

This book contains plenty of valuable information that every musician needs to hear. It is written from the point of view of a bass player, but the goal of the author is to give you a broader perspective on music, to try to stop you from looking at it through the narrow lens of your chosen instrument:

“I play music, not instruments... I am a musician!” he answered. He placed his hand on his chest to emphasize his point before gesturing at me. “You are just a bass player. That means that you play the bass guitar. A true musician, like me, plays Music and uses particular instruments as tools to do so. I know that Music is inside me and not inside the instrument.” .... “You have been trying to tell your story with a bass guitar, and not through it”

Continue reading "Book Review: The Music Lesson"

I haven't posted anything for almost two weeks now so I thought it would be a good time to update everyone on the status of my band and our music. The good news is, that we have all of the tracking done for our first EP. We found a really great sound engineer for the mixing and hopefully the CD should be ready for mastering and duplication by the end of the month. I think we have some great tunes on there, and this is a great step for us. We have been incredibly lucky with everything and everyone that came together to create this project. Continue reading "State Of The Union"

It is incredibly important for any serious musician to be taking music lessons from an experienced teacher. I am taking lessons from a fantastic musician now, and I plan to continue lessons as long as I can find someone who knows more than I do.... which will be for many years to come. I personally wish we could even go one step beyond this, that artists and musicians could enter into a sort of master/apprentice relationship with their teachers. Unfortunately, that style of focused learning just doesn’t seem available in today's culture.

I don’t know why some people are so hesitant about taking lessons. I know there is some sense of accomplishment to be able to say that you were self taught. Everyone wants to look like they are just naturally good what they do it and it all comes easy to them. And I’m sure there are some virtuosos out there that figured everything out on their own, but that is such a rarity, and who knows how much better they would be or how much faster they would have progressed if they did have someone guiding them from the beginning. Anyways, my feelings aside, there are numerous benefits of taking lessons from an experienced teacher:
Continue reading "Find a good instructor"

I believe you must be as serious and picky about the band mates you are about choosing a spouse. Sure, you can just spread yourself thin playing with as million people, but the real beauty and joy (for me) comes from the commitment you make to stay and grow together with a few select people. You can learn a lot more about music, life, and relationships by making the commitment to a few people. "Iron sharpens iron, So one man sharpens another." -Proverbs 27:17

Much like a marriage, you need to make sure that the lines of communication stay open and everyone is clear on the nature of the band. Are you weekend warriors? You just want to play rock covers college parties? Or do you want to stick together and go the long haul together? Those are all well and good, just make sure that everyone is on the same page. A band can be a serious, and difficult business, and you are going to need everyone to be equally as serious and proactive with it.
Continue reading "How to choose your band"

This is fantastic advice advice from Questlove, and something that I can't stress enough if you want your band to be around 5, 10, 15 years down the road. Continue reading "Great advice for any band."

Sean and I played a great show at Berbati's Pan in Portland last night. I have to say, Berbati's is a fantastic venue. Their sound guy was totally on the ball, and they had great lighting and a cool stage. We opened up for a group from Boston called The Grownup Noise, who's style ranged from Andrew Bird classical/roots sounds to early 90s rock covers with a few face-melting solos thrown in for good measure. The cellist was a great addition to the band. It was an all around tight set, and I will be sure to catch them again next time they come around.

I am pretty sure that was the last show I will be playing with Sean. It was fun while it lasted, but now I'm excited to focus all my energy and time into my other project. I wish him the best of luck in his budding music career.

I just read an article by Jeff Low about performance anxiety. He has some good thoughts in there, and I take solace in the knowledge that I'm not the only one to have some fear and doubts before a performance. The main battle for me usually comes before a show, when all my old self doubts and insecurity seem to loom large on the horizon. Luckily enough, the fear usually dissipates once I get onstage and begin playing.

Anyways, I recently read an article in Men's Journal entitled "How Not to Choke" which has some great points in in which I would like to share here.
Continue reading "Performance Anxiety?"

My drummer returned home this week from a mission's trip in Uganda. Its been three weeks since he left, and longer than that since we've been together as a band. So yesterday he, Wess, and I got together for some mindless jamming and I just wanted to say that it felt fantastic. The definite highlight for me was when an old woman was walking by our garage door and couldn't help but dance a little as she walked by. She didn't look up or even acknowledge that we were there, but she just threw out a few dance moves and continued on her way. It was fantastic.
Continue reading "We're back"

"Let each note ring from every fiber of your being."

I think this is the best advice I can give any aspiring musician. It is a concept that you can continually use to check yourself with, and something that will bear fruit for the rest of your life. I think this is ultimately what makes a musician great, and you can go much farther focusing on this than focusing on learning yet another scale. Don't get me wrong, technique is very important to focus on, with a teacher working closely with you, but the important thing to remember is that you can learn every lick in the book and still not be a truly great musician. Continue reading "Let each note ring from every fiber of your being."