Heck yeah!

I had a gig last night with my band. I still get really nervous when I play the stick, live, but it gets a little better every time. I recover from mistakes quicker, my channel switching gets smoother, I look at my hands a little less. I still get impatient and want to be better sooner. Even though I consider myself an experienced musician (or perhaps because I do), I know that there is a process that I need to work through and practicing at home will only give me so much.

Although I considered the gig to be kinda so-so, I still walked away from it feeling really jacked up about the progress and positives that I saw in myself and the band as a whole.

Confidence, for me, is a slow build. Maybe the result of having a very analytical mindset? I spent an hour and a half earlier in the afternoon tweaking all my tones on my POD X3, balancing volume and gain levels between different sounds and instruments. That's something that plagued me in other shows. Even though I was using the clubs provided backline (a small Yorkville(?) bass head through an Eden 4x10 and a Vox AC30) which I had never used before, it was pretty straight forward getting a good sound out of my POD. I didn't feel the need to adjust anything during the set, which helped me feel a lot more comfortable in my performance.

...and Jim Meyer came out. YAY JIM

WARNING! THIS ARTICLE COULD BOOST YOUR SELF ESTEEM AND HELP GET YOU PAID!

No shortys! (No not the urban rap meaning)

I mean don’t go and shortchange yourself or your talents! You have a Stick and you play a Stick, and IMHO that’s quite an accomplishment. You have risen above the din and the crowd, chosen an intelligent path to make music and advanced from your previous level of musical training.

Next time you walk down the street or in a mall, figuratively point to anyone and say, "They can't do what I do!” They are not as creative as you – I am sure you hummed, strummed, or noodled around on a melody that is yours and yours alone. They never did.

Don’t be so hard on yourself. Please be aware I am not pointing anyone out here, that is not my intention, however, too many times I see or hear this- “Well, I completely suck, but here’s a clip…” First, the clip is pretty good and secondly, the playing, warts and all, is better than anything those people you figuratively point at could ever do.

Don’t shortchange yourself- you wouldn’t do it in “real” life, and you shouldn’t do it to your own talents. If you worked at a retail store, and the item was listed as $10 USD, you don’t check the person out, “OK, it’s $4 USD” yet we do this in our own life in assessing our own talents and often for less than half of what we actually are.

First, the public doesn’t buy disclaimers – “like I’m not that good, so here… “ Did you ever see an album with an excuse sticker on it? NO! They will judge you how they judge you. Putting that out there first, appears to be asking for some sympathy or leeway for something you could correct, improve upon or revise. If you ever talk over one of your demos “the drums could have been up more, opps hit a wrong note there, vocal is a little hot” stop- go back and fix or remix it. If a million of your albums sold, you couldn’t be in everyone’s living room sitting beside them on a couch, giving them a play by play of how you let an unfinished work go out.

Next, don’t UNDERVALUE your talent. There was a big Internet discussion recently about against playing for free and/or for EXPOSURE (see cartoon). I believe the ONLY exception is if the gig or event will network you toward paying situations. The old adage rings true, why buy a cow when you can get milk for free! Once you play for free, in my long experience and other’s experience with club owners, they have memories like Elephants and say “you played for free last time, why do I need to pay you now?” Yes these people exist AND own clubs. Also you are UNDERVALUATING your talent when you play for free. Ask for something $20 -$40 dollars. You can always go up from there. If you say I’ll play for -0-, what does that say about how you think about your own talent? You can use a tie in. “I’ll play for free this time to show you I can draw, but next time you will agree to X” Foot in the door, with a TIE IN AMOUNT AND A GUARANTEED GIG IN THE NEAR FUTURE.

So look your self in the mirror, and smile. A good positive self-image belongs and begins right there. …. And then say “Baby, I’m Worth It! Baby, I’m Worth It!” like Fifth Harmony’s hit!

Hope this helps,
Dave B “DBro”

*cartoon has a "bad" word!