A Musician's Note, Part Two.

Fifty years of a music life, and I have a few things to share. Don't squander your talent, promise and potential.

Transcript

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Going out wet, coming back again, working this.

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Welcome to the podcast, the train from Airdree Station, episode something double digits. I think it's 17, episode 17. This is a podcast not about trains. More of a story and a perspective of us as a family coming to a big city in Canada circa 1965. I was a tiny wee lad from a small Scottish town just outside of Glasgow. The culture we found here in North America and in Canada, my developing love of music, all things music and writing, and sadly, ultimately, a 30-year addiction to booze. Uh. Then getting clean. But today, this episode is called A Musician's Note Part 2. I want to talk about ideas and concrete steps you can make in your practice session, in your life as a musician, to be the best player you can be. Okay. We care too much about what can be done in a day and disregard how much can be accomplished in a year. And I'm formerly guilty on that count. I used to plead with my guitar students, just give me 15 minutes practice a day. In six months, you will be amazed or realize your lack of talent and become a financial planner. Do a little each day with intent. I have for you a six-item list to tackle. My goal is to tackle at least three of the items daily. There is no shortcut, my friends, to becoming your best self in a good to great musician. What's ever in your hands is in your hands. And after sixty years, sixty years, I write and talk about it here. I was just waiting for the internet to appear and the applications that can produce and spread this work. I was waiting on technology, waiting on the papyrus of the 21st century. I was a musician starting in my early twenties. People would pay me money to play guitar, gigs everywhere. It would last forever, so it seemed then. Our careers mapped out for good. Until it wasn't. Through my time, though, dealing with depression, as I've spoken of in previous episodes, serious depression, and hiding it from everyone alive, the best they could. Through the years of dealing with my social awkwardness and connection to people issues, I was at least, at least dedicated to becoming a good musician with the limited tools available and the absence of YouTube. I learned by ear and by rote and by practice. Practice. The joy and grind of daily toil, scales, learning songs, riffs and licks and more. It was enough for a while. However, as the years passed and my 30s beckoned, I became disillusioned by the music business and my lack of progress therein. I buried myself in other things. Drinking, most prevalent. I lost myself. And somehow have come out the other end alive and frankly grateful, grateful for the results. I always knew I could play. I did. And often I could play very, very well. Years of dedication to the craft produced a kind of muscle memory, technique, skill, a little talent, and a lot of discipline. Discipline and learning a skill is the most crucial part of it. Discipline becomes a habit, and strong, good habits stay with you for life. I am taking a quick sip now. Not of coffee, not of my French press bodum coffee. No, tonight I'm having a Coke Zero. I'm living it up. The life of Riley. I tell you this now, because recently I was writing about what I have learned about life, my life in my 60 plus years. I've been writing a book about it. And particularly the artist life and what I learned about how to become a good musician, about becoming a good musician. That process never really ends. I produced a small template that should put a young musician in good stead, in a good place. I didn't have that template. I have focused on six items, six different sections of your life, a life, a life in music, and that, if you have some talent, and you will need some talent, will help get a player to their best possible artistic self, fulfill their potential. There is little sadder than promise and potential squandered. I will cover the first four in detail in this episode and finish in a subsequent episode to follow, probably next week. This is not a complete list, it's just my list. And I am not a guru or an expert. I'm not looking to reveal the secrets of success because there are no secrets. Luck is a big part of success. We have little control over that, but we do have control over our work ethic and commitment. Coke zero, you say. Not even sponsored. Look, I have some expertise as a writer and musician who did everything backwards, everything wrong, or so it seemed. I had no mentor, teacher, or guide, but I at least got a lot of practice in. Years and years of practice. The only thing I regret about practice, well, two things, is one, I should have started earlier, younger. I didn't take up guitar till I was almost 13. I'd asked for piano lessons years before, but was denied. And two, my best years were spent, my best years were either spent drunk or hung over and doing other things, working other jobs, helping other people and their businesses. I should have been focused on my own career. But I didn't have the confidence that I might have now for a lot of reasons. I let that slide for a very long time. You will never get time back, guys. My friends, plan accordingly. So, further to a previous post regarding how much we can accomplish in a year and with daily work, put in the time with intention, a little each day, and in a year you will have accomplished a great deal. As a writer type guy, I have lots of yellow pads lying around. You know I'm a writer because I say things like writer type guy. My mode of writing things down, I review them on a regular basis. It's amazing how clear things become when written down and then reviewed. I often come back to a similar theme. I have in my music notebook, full disclosure, fancy notebook means yellow pad stack, a list of six items. As follows. One, songbook. So repertoire, learning new songs and guitar parts. Two, gear, finding and maintaining the right equipment, including guitars and apps. Three, marketing. No one likes to do it. It doesn't feel genuine, yet it's essential. Social media websites, letting people know about your work. No one will knock on your door looking for an artist. Four, this got me late. Fitness. Father time is catching up. My body has had fractures among a myriad of other ailments that can afflict an aging musician. Sleep, walking, stretching, and a few good deep knee bends. You may call them squats, if you like. Five, practice. Every day. Every day, unless there is pain. And then see, number four above fitness. Number six, education. Always learning something from the masters, the giants of the craft, theory, and making the complicated simple. You ever watch a musician and it just it just sounds so good and it looks so easy? That took 20, 30 years of dedicated practice to make it look that smooth and that easy. My goal, as I mentioned, is to tackle at least three of these items each day. Again, there is no shortcut to becoming your best self and a good to great musician. So let me just briefly outline what I mean in the first four items. So songbook. By this I mean your repertoire, increasing your knowledge and understanding of the instrument of choice. New styles, even if it's not your style, understanding how and what another guitar player, for instance, is doing. At the core, learn more songs, riffs, and chord changes. Anybody good can be somebody you learn from. Build your repertoire. If you're a songwriter, build a new a new song, excuse me, as often as possible, always writing. And if you're a singer, your songbook, it's pretty obvious. You need a lot of songs in your songbook. Keep learning new songs. Okay, part two. Gear. Equipment. You need the right gear. You can't build a house with a box cutter. Find a guitar that fits your hands. The neck feel is essential. Pickups and electronics can always be swapped out. Your instrument should be the most comfort-feeling part of your day. It's true. And invest in proper sound. The right amp, the right PA system, the right microphone, good cables, all of it. And if you go the roots as a guitar player of pedals and effects, spend time and money to get the best you can afford. The real sound of your instrument voice is in your hands. Always in your hands. But sound gear, but bad sound gear will make good sounds harder to make. And three, marketing. I was terrible at self-promotion, and I still am, not great, and marketing any talents I may have had and still tried to develop. I was young, I had attitude and questionable talent. I was pretty good. But I didn't have the confidence to stand on stage in front of hundreds of people and play a gig, but to walk up to a manager or record company person or a publicist, say, hey, you know, I think you should check me out was hard for me back then. And I'm sure it was for a lot of artists back then. Unless you're listen, unless you're sting, you can't afford to be distant and unapproachable. I mean, sting's amazing, but you know, it sucks. I know. Be grateful for the opportunity and the people lending a hand. If you need posters for a gig, do posters. Don't fight it. If you need to thank someone in the venue, at the venue for booking you, thank them. Genuinely. You don't need to suck up, just be a decent human. People deserve to be thanked and appreciated. Keep your social media current and professional. Let people know where you are and what you're doing. I have people follow me on Instagram and back and forth, and maybe they send me a message. I check out something about their site. I have no idea where they are. If they're a company, if they're a product, if they're an artist. I don't know where they're based. And I need to know that. Don't you want to know where they are? So if if there is a gig, you have a gig, make it clear where it is and when. Nobody knows the details except you. This is not a rush tour. Until you can afford a publicist, you are the publicist. Don't respond to troll nonsense on your socials, by the way. You won't win this one. Take the high road. I've had a few snarky comments on my socials. Just let it go. When I was younger, I wouldn't let it go. Thank God there was no social media when I was younger. People will always remember how you made them feel. There are a million great musicians out there, and you are not special. Marketing yourself, your band, your podcast, your art, your play, any of it is about getting potential fans who may soon love your work to notice you and make it easy for people to follow. I'm going to do number four here and then wait till the next podcast for five and six. But number four is fitness. Honor yourself. Honor your skills and talent. Treat the body with deference. Keep the mind engaged and clear. Be a good human. Regrets, trust me on this, regrets will haunt you for life. Youth falls away quickly, as does your ability to recover. The sooner you begin to take care of your health, the better. Music careers are for life. Sure. Bad things happen, we get ill or worse, of course. But play the percentages. So in no particular order, and from my personal experience, and I am not an expert, but I've had a lot of experience. Read. Find good writers and read them. Walk, find good shoes and use them. And while you walk, process the practice session, the last gig, the upcoming call to a manager or record person. Breathing exercises. Work your diaphragm whenever possible. Especially if you're a singer. Breathing well and properly clears the head, calms the mind, resets the balance. Inhale through the nose, belly engaged, count of five, hold, and exhale through the mouth, count of six, belly comes in. Hmm. If you play an instrument, stretch after a practice session and before, too. I have to do both now. And a lot of walking in between 15, 20, 30 minutes of practice, and then I get up and I walk around the room. Sleep is essential. Can't say enough about this. Lack of sleep will catch up to you. Listen, I get that lots of people have insomnia. I had it for years. For years. Rest the best as best you can. Work with what the body gives you. A properly rested body and mind will perform at its best. If you're 22 years old right now, I can hear you laughing. It'll catch up to you. Lifting a few weights or doing squats is helpful for the muscle tone that is working between your brain commands and your fingers. Everything in the body is connected. Everything. Why mess with that? The only thing more important than your body is your mind. Garbage in, garbage out. Keep your head out of the news and gossip. Keep clear away from negative people. I can't emphasize that enough. They will drain you, they'll drain your soul. The more leverage you get in life, a kind of power of self, the more control you will have on who gets to hang around you. Choose wisely. The aim of fitness and health is to be the very best musician you can become. You are an elite athlete. So I'm going to stop here at a musician's note part two, The Train from Air Tree Station, my podcast. James Clark Jones is my name. You can find me on Instagram at James Clark Jones or The Train from Air Tree Station. You can find my writing on Substack. I am writing a book and it's quite lengthy. There's parts of it on Substack. I would love it. And if you're listening to this on any of the major platforms, it would be appreciated if you could or would go and leave a review of this podcast there. Apparently it helps with the algorithms. And if you could share it with people you think might be interested, that would be great. Every episode I've done so far, I have left one of my songs, left you with one of my songs at the end of the podcast itself. Not going to do that this week. I think you should go practice. Talk to you next time.