140 Bullet Proof Ways to Thrive in the Musician's Life

8/10/2019 140 Bullet Proof Ways to Thrive in the Musician's Life

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140 Bullet Proof Ways to Thrive in the Musician's Life

Copyright 2014 James Rawson

All Rights Reserved

Please - forward, post, pin, tweet, link, and talk about this book with all of your friends. But -

just dont mess with any of its contents. I worked hard on this book. Thanks!

- James

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35 Bullet Proof Ways to Consistently and Efficiently Practice Music

The 5 Components of Practicing Music

7 Tips on How to Use Education to Propel Your Practicing

7 Tips on How Wrangle Your Time-Management to Boost Your Practicing

7 Tips on How to Take Your Admiration for Your Musical Mentors and Turn It

into Gusto for Practicing Music

7 Tips on How to Find Relaxation and Meditation Through Practicing

7 Tips on How to have a Locomotive Sized Level of Self-Motivation

So, Yeah - You (Yes, You) Really Can Practice Like a Boss

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35 Bullet Proof Ways to Write Better Songs

The 5 Components of Writing a Great Song

7 Tips for Gathering the Raw Material of a Song

7 Tips on How to Cultivate Empathy

7 Tips on How to Push Yourself to Experiment with Your Writing

7 Tips on How to be a Merciless Editor (in a Good Way)

7 Tips on How to Manage Your Expectations as a Songwriter

Writing is hard stuff, but I do it, so Come On, Of Course You can Too

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35 Bullet Proof Ways to Step-Up Your Performance Chops

The 5 Components of Performing

7 Tips on How to Actually be Prepared for a Performance

7 Tips on How to Build Performing Experience

7 Tips on How to Build Up Your Confidence to the B.A Boss Level

7 Tips on How to Be an Bonafide Actor (in a Good Way) on Stage

7 Tips for Nailing Down the Pesky Logistics of Performing

You Dont have to be Lady Gaga Crazy to be an Amazing Performer - But

You Really Do have to be Compelling

Conclusion

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Introduction

I started playing music when I was twelve years old. Since then, Ive taken hundreds andhundreds of hours in lessons, completed a college degree with an emphasis in music, and

performed in front of so many different types of people. Basically, Ive spent the majority of

my life being a musician. And over the years, Ive learned a lot. By no means have I mastered

music, but I have gained a rich supply of experiences.

The 4 Components of the Musicians Life

And from these experiences, I have seen four things stand out as the major components of

the musicians life.

These four things are:

1. Inspiration

2. Practice

3. Composition

4. Performance

So, in hopes of helping my fellow friends and musicians, I want to share tips from these four

areas that I have discovered and used in my own life as a musician. These tips are my own

secret artistic sauce. Ive use them over and over again to pull myself out of creative ruts and

to push myself forward in my craft. Each one of these tips has worked for me, so I know

theyll work for you too.

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7 Tips on How to Consistently Find Inspiration from

Your Own Life

Art is all about this thing we call life. For art to be art, it has to breath in life and breath out

life. So, if you need to strike a spark of inspiration, you dont have to look very far for

kindling. In your very own life, you can always find the materials to light up inspiration. But

if youre not sure how to do that -

heres 7 tips on finding inspiration just from your own life:

1. Beethoven, instead of committing suicide, used music to cope with becoming deaf.Take life's tough times and turn them into inspiration.

2. If you can't hold a genuine conversation with someone, you'll never find inspiration.

3. Be present in every moment of your life - in the horrible ones, the sexy ones, theboring ones. If you pay attention, inspiration is all over.

4. Inspiration comes from the torrents of true love and the wreckage of heartbreak. So,make sure to experience both in life.

5. Instead of it being all about you, be inspired by someone else's life story like yourgirlfriend's, or your father's, or Beethoven's.

6. Read at least one famous composer's biography. Those guys' life stories are messed upand endlessly inspiring.

7. To be endlessly inspired, find spirituality - even if it's atheism.

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7 Tips on How to Find Inspiration from Your Work

Ethic

Hard-work is the essence of every great story. Hard-work is slaying the dragon or catching

the killer. Hard-work is an adversary. Its a challenger. And everybody loves seeing the

underdog win in the end. So -

heres 7 tips on how to find inspiration through challenge, through hard-work:

1. Instead of being paralyzed with fear, be inspired by how back-breaking it is to be a

great musician. Wear the adversity like a Purple Heart.

2. Rarely will you still feel inspired after writing the first verse. So pace yourself.

Writing a song is like marriage - not a one-night-stand.

3. Remembering inspiration the day after it smacks you in the face is what's hard.

Getting a journal, notebook, or photographic memory helps.

4. If youre inspired, then stop everything else - stop your entire world - and for god's

sake, write it down.

5. Beethoven made hundreds of revisions before a piece was done. A hundred years later

- we're still talking about him. Be inspired by hard work.

6. Don't fight the rules, find inspiration in them. The great musicians can make you

weep and they can follow the sonata form.

7. Be inspired by challenges, because nothing's more challenging than turning that

melody stuck in your head into a song.

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7 Tips on How to Find Inspiration in All Forms of

Art

Artists are stereotyped as being these spontaneous, open-minded people. In real life though,

artists are just as prejudiced as everyone else. But if you can break through these walls of

basis, you can find inspiration. I believe anyone who calls themselves an artist should

immerse themselves in all forms of art. I know that thats a tall order, but I also know it can

be done. And if you need help in finding inspiration in other art forms -

heres 7 tips on how to find inspiration from an art other than your own:

1. For inspiration, do more than just music everyday: paint landscapes, write poetry, or

read comic books.

2. Go to an art museum. There's no way you can escape inspiration there.

3. Want to be inspired? Have as big of a book collection as you do music collection.

4. Look at a famous painting for more than 5 minutes. Trust me, you'll find at least one

inspiring thing on that canvas.

5. Walk through downtown Chicago and be overshadowed by gargantuan architecture

and inspiration.

6. Take a literature class, then you'll know how to be inspired by both a "The

Metamorphosis" and "The Old Man and The Sea."

7. Learn to create with your hands (like with cooking or woodworking) to profoundly

find inspiration to create with your mind.

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7 Tips on How to Find Inspiration by Exploring the

World Around You

Out of all the ways to find inspiration, exploration is my favorite. I love to explore. Whether

its new bands, new restaurants, or new combinations at Starbucks, I love finding the

undiscovered. And every time I find something new, I also find inspiration. Maybe youre not

that adventurous. Maybe you like routine (which isnt a bad thing). Maybe youve order the

same drink at Starbucks for the last three years. But if you want to find inspiration, youve

got to go into the uncharted, and if youre not sure how to do that -

heres 7 tips on how to break out of your shell to find inspiration in exploration:

1. Like a great explorer, always hunt for your new favorite artist. Finding the

undiscovered is always inspiring.

2. Be brave and venture back into the most emotional moments of your life. In those

places, you'll always find inspiration.

3. Be open minded. It makes it a lot easier to be inspired.

4. Write a song on an instrument you don't normally play. New timbres always inspire.

5. Physically go somewhere you never been, whether it's Chicago or the Mississippi

River. Adventure always leads to inspiration.

6. Even if you never done it before, mediate: close your eyes, clamp yourself down, and

explore. Inspiration always lurks within solitude.

7. Read a new book, watch a new movie, try a new restaurant. Even mundane adventure

can lead to profound inspiration.

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Chuck the Blank Page Excuse -

Because Now You Know How to Find

Inspiration Everywhere and Anywhere

Maintaining and nourishing inspiration is an essential task an artist must master. And now

youve got a leg up. Now, you can find inspiration from your own life, from others, from

hard work, from all art, and from the wide world around you.

However, I know that inspiration is a deeply personal experience. Thus I know that what

inspires me may not inspire you, so I know these tips arent exactly universal. However, thespirit of these tips are. If you disagree with one of these inspiration tips, thats A-OK. If that

happens, just use them as a springboard. Use them as the starting point for your own

personal list of inspiration tips.

Please, by all means - go beyond my small advice, and discover what specifically inspires you.

As an artist, its your job to again and again find what inspires you. So, go do your job.

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35 Bullet Proof Ways to Consistently

and Efficiently Practice Music

Practicing is by far the most grueling and anti-fun aspect of being a musician. Yet, it is a

necessary evil. For a musician, practicing is what training is to an athlete. It is laborious,

tiresome, and unavoidable.

But practicing doesnt have to be all that bad. In fact, at best, it can be calming, inspiring, and

transformational. Yes, it really can be. I know this because Ive experienced it.

Every musician has to come to terms with practicing in order to actually be a musician.

Musicians who dont regular practice arent musicians. Theyre hobbyists.

The 5 Components of Practicing Music

So, to help you establish solid practicing habits and to help you use your practicing to the

fullest, Ive compiled 35 of my best tips. Ive broken them up into 5 categories:

1. Education

2. Time-Management

3. Mentors4. Meditation

5. Self-Motivation

You can read through each category, or you can jump to the one you find the most useful at

this moment. Every musician goes through practicing slumps, so use these tips to propel you

right now and to keep you going for the long-haul.

So, heres 35 of my best tips when it comes to practicing your music.

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7 Tips on How to Use Education to Propel Your

Practicing

Some people out there actually love going to school. Most of us however dont. But formal

schooling is the foundation and starting point for any serious musician. It is a necessary evil.

Now that doesnt mean you have to drop everything and go out and enrol in a college music

degree this second, but you need to at least take some lessons at a college, studio, or friends

basement.

Heres 7 tips on how to use education to boost your practicing.

1. Take lessons

2. Study music: as in get a textbook, take a class. Become not just a musician (those are a

dime a dozen) but an educated musician.

3. Dont look down on your backyard. Enroll in community college music classes.

4. Dont make money your excuse. Google free [your instrument] lessons.

5. Want to save money? Dont want to go to class? Buy used music textbooks and read

them.

6. Find a musician whos better than you and simply ask them for lessons (they might

even do it for free since youre so good at flattery).

7. Dont make time your excuse. Enrol in an online music class on Coursera.

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7 Tips on How Wrangle Your Time-Management to

Boost Your Practicing

Here it comes, the awful T word. Time-management. That word oozes business jargon. It

sounds so corporate. Youre a musician, not a corporate monkey. However, there is one thing

that business people do that all musicians should learn. They get stuff done. They are not

scatter-minded. They are organized, efficient, and effective. Practicing is all about effectively

getting from where you are to where you want to go. If you practice when you feel like it or

whenever you have time, you wont move an inch. So, take a breath, grit your teeth, and get

organized.

Heres 7 tips on how to actually make time to practice your music:

1. Set aside a specific time, every day to practice.

2. Cities are built brick by brick. Practice for just 5 minutes everyday (youll be

astounded by how much youll get done in a week).

3. Try practicing at different times of the day to find which is the best for you and your

daily schedule like 3pm or 4am.

4. Don't keep your instrument in a case. Keep it where you can see it. In sight, in mind,

tells you, oh yeah you should be practicing right now.

5. Set a daily calendar alarm on your phone to remind you to practice.

6. Seriously, you only need to practice for a FOCUSED (meaning only doing one thing) 5

minutes.

7. Let the other members of your household know when your daily practice time is and

then politely and firmly ask them to not bother you for those 5 minutes.

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7 Tips on How to Take Your Admiration for Your

Musical Mentors and Turn It into Gusto for

Practicing Music

Every musician has a short list of their favorite musicians. However, not every musician takes

their enthusiasm to the practicing level. Dont just buy every single piece of record music

that your favorite band has ever made. Take a step back, and dont just listen but learn from

your favorite artist.

Heres 7 tips on how to be so inspired by your musical heroes that you're actually practice

your music:

1. Learn your favorite artists songs to where you can play them from memory: lyrics,

chords, and all. If you internalize, you truly learned.

2. Work with other musicians: people better than you will keep you humble and people

worse than you will boost your confidence.

3. Question your favorite artist to no end. Why did they use those chords? Why did

they put the lyrics in that order? Why did they use that instrumentation?

4. Write your own song that sounds just like your favorite artist. Mimikry will help

reveal the inner workings of what makes their music great.

5. Read as many interviews with your favorite artist as you can. Like a lecture, let them

teach you with their words, not just their music.

6. Make a list of why you love a certain artists music, and then cultivate in your music

the traits you love in theirs.

7. Take your favorite songs and come up with as many different cover versions as

possible. It will teach you how to fully expand one idea.

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7 Tips on How to Find Relaxation and Meditation

Through Practicing

A lot of practicing stretches the limits of your brain, but a lot of it also calms your brain. If

you can teach yourself how to make practicing enjoyable, then youll actually do it. Teaching

yourself how to make practicing enjoyable is probably the hardest part of learning how to

practice, but trust me, it can be done.

Heres 7 tips how to take the laborious task of practicing music and make it peaceful:

1. Once youve memorized the finger pattern on your instrument, scales are just musclememory. So, close your eyes, let your body take over, and relax.

2. Realize that practicing music takes many forms, so break up your practicing time.

Never get bored. Play scales, arpeggios, chords, learn a song, write a song, listen to a

song, etc.

3. Let your metronome take you to zen. Let your body take over and just focus on

getting locked in with the beat.

4. Take rabbit trails. If a sound, chord, or melody sparks your imagination, stop

practicing and follow your inspiration.

5. Have fun with your practice time by writing as much as possible or by playing as loud

as possible or by listening as much as possible etc.

6. When practicing, realize you are utterly alone. No one in the world can hear your

mistakes. So relax. Dont let perfectionism rob you blind.

7. If youve found a melody or chord progression that you love, dont be ashamed to

practice it over and over and over and over again.

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7 Tips on How to have a Locomotive Sized Level of

Self-Motivation

Self-motivation is the essence of an artist. Without self-motivation an artist is not an artist.

Beyond kindling inspiration, self-motivation is what builds an artists style and skill. It is what

pushes you to practice, to get better, to not be content where you are. Of course though,

self-motivation is one of the most difficult things to cultivate and hold on to.

Heres 7 tips on how to push yourself to shut up and practice:

1. Treat practicing like a gym routine. If you stop practicing, you will lose muscle mass.

2. With practicing, think of yourself as an athlete. Look at how much effort, enthusiasm,

and efficiency an olympian uses to gain a gold, then copy everything they do (just

with music).

3. Dont be arrogant. If youve never been to the gym in your life, do you really think

you could bench 350lbs your first time? Start with practicing 5 minutes everyday, and

then build up from there.

4. Never be content. Always be practicing a piece that challenges the heck out of you.

5. Dont burn up. Challenge yourself, but take a break. Missing the transition in Bachs

Fugue in G Minor is nothing to punch the wall over.

6. The more difficult the practicing the grandeur the result. Never forget that. Creating

great art is a painful process. Creating cheap art is care-free.

7. Stop whining. No one likes to practice, but if other musicians can practice till they

become masters and live to tell about it, so can you.

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So, Yeah - You (Yes, You) Really Can

Practice Like a Boss

Practicing is the necessary evil within a musicians life. No one likes it, but everyone has to

do it. Moreover, that means others have gone before you. In fact, there have been amazing

musicians throughout the vast years of our culture, and somehow - they got through and

came to terms with this evil of practicing.

So take heart. You (yes you) can set a daily habit, stick to it, and refine your art until it

glistens. But if you happen to get off track or lose faith, read back over these tips, and get

back to the musical grindstone.

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35 Bullet Proof Ways to Write Better

Songs

Out of all the aspects of a musicians life, my favorite is composition. From pop songs to

string quartets, I truly love writing music. I write because I have too. Writing pours out of

me. I am always, always creating. As soon as Im done with an album, Im writing the next

one. Once Im done writing songs, I write orchestral pieces. If I dont have an instrument

handy, Ill write poetry. My hands never stop moving.

The 5 Components of Writing a Great Song

For me, writing breaks down to five aspects:

1. Gathering

2. Empathy

3. Experimentation

4. Editing

5. Expectations

Now, lets dig into each one of these components. Lets look at how to get enough material

together to start writing, how to make your writing relatable to other people, and how to

refine your writing into a true masterpiece.

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7 Tips for Gathering the Raw Material of a Song

Being a writer is like being an explorer. Great explorers seek new lands because the old onesare stale and used up. In other words, explorers hunt for resources. To write anything, we

need raw material, and the only way to get that material is to go find it. Of course, this

material is only an abstract concept, so how in the world do you seek out something thats

intangible?

Heres 7 tips on how to get enough material to start writing a song:

1. Travel into your memories. Pick a specific moment and write about it.

2. However, dont write just after an emotional event. Give time to process, then you can

write the exact emotion you felt - not just a messy collage.

3. Be arbitrary. Make a list of themes, subjects, ideas and write about each one.

4. Borrow (steal) from other writers. Honor (copy) their work in your writing.

5. Be a sponge. Absorb ideas from art, movies, books, LPs, crowds, buildings, cafes, etc.

6. Use form to build the content. Pick a specific form like ballad or blues or rap, and just

let the writing take shape.

7. Sleep on it. The light of dawn untangles the ideas you tried to force out yesterday.

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7 Tips on How to Cultivate Empathy

To write something great, you have to not only crawl into your own head but into someoneelses too. To be a great writer, you have to master empathy. Yes, even for musicians, you

need to be able to fully wrap your mind around someone elses feelings because empathy

takes your messy emotions and transforms them into something relatable. Just spewing on

the page doesnt make it relatable. Empathy shapes your experiences into something

universal and profound. Now, how the heck do you get a grip on empathy?

Heres 7 tips on how to be a more understanding person to improve your songwriting:

1. Read articles, watch documentaries, and listen to talk shows that are completely

opposite of your politics. Then practice understanding and appreciating their point of

view.

2. Study religions. Learn why someone would be an atheist and another a

transcendentalist.

3. Travel so far from home that you are the one who has an accent.

4. Listen to the founders of different music genres to understand why rap, western,

classical, jazz, and pop are so friggin good.

5. Simply ask, Why? Why did that person chose to do that for a living, marry that

person, vote for that guy. etc.

6. Read biographies. Beethovens is a great one.

7. The fundamental of empathy is realizing that other people have experienced exactly

the same emotions as you, just in a different situation.

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7 Tips on How to Push Yourself to Experiment with

Your Writing

Experimenting is my favorite part of writing. Whether its trying out new soundscapes, lyric

styles, or live presentations, I always experiment. Lots of times, my tinkering doesnt pan out,

but often it does branch out into a another idea, and eventually, my trail of ideas leads to one

thats actually really good. As a writer, if you dont experiment, if you dont push yourself,

than your art will be dead boring.

Heres 7 ways to step off boldly with your songwriting:

1. Get over yourself. Who cares if you try out something new and it fails. In the safetyof your practice space, no one else can hear you.

2. Repeat this: Its A-OK if your experiment fails. Honestly, most of them will. Learn to

shake off the dust and keep moving forward.

3. Just like in a grand physics theory, it takes lots of tiny experiments to reach a

discovery in music. So, relax and be patient and dont give up.

4. You dont have to reach Lady Gaga craziness to be experimental. You just have tomake sure you never get too comfortable (lazy). Thats all.

5. Study. Learn music theory or poetry analysis and then just experiment by putting into

practice what youve learned. Its really that simple.

6. Instead of reinventing the wheel, just cover a song in a genre way outside of your

own. Trust me, that will push you out of any musical complacency.

7. Experiment with just one musical fundamental at a time. For example, mess around

with just the rhythm or melody or key or timbre of the song.

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7 Tips on How to be a Merciless Editor (in a Good

Way)

Artists do surgery all the time. We just call it editing. To be a superb artist, you have to be

filled to the brim with inspiration. You have to practice for hundreds and hundreds of hours.

And then you have to cut up your masterpiece to remove all of the imperfections. Human

error and laziness spread through art like cancer. Generic chords, stale metaphors, and flat

melodies will kill your music, if you don't kill them first.

Here's 7 tips on how to save your art through editing.

1. Pace yourself. Get a rough draft of your song then add, edit, add, edit for weeks,months, years. Take the long road. Your art will thank you.

2. Ask someone you trust, like your friend or your wife, what parts of your song they

like and what ones they don't. And then listen to them. Editing can be that simple.

3. Don't write one melody. Write one hundred and then pick the best one. That's real

editing.

4. Don't listen to all of the criticism you'll get. Be open minded. Search for the grain oftruth. But stick to your guns, man.

5. Never get so attached to a song that you cant kill it. Art is always supposed to be

edited - always.

6. Dont chase your tail. Walk away. Your brain can only handle so much. Editing

shouldnt suck up your soul.

7. Be disciplined enough to stop editing. A perfectionist is someone too cowardly to

actually publish and perform their work.

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7 Tips on How to Manage Your Expectations as a

Songwriter

I have met musicians who are so scared to play their songs that they are always perfecting

their music. Ive also met musicians who put up a BandCamp page with their just their

basement-janky recordings. No matter where you fall on the spectrum, as a writer, you have

to manage your expectations. You have to be brave enough to actually play your songs, and

you have to be modest enough to actually practice your songs. Managing your expectations,

your self-concept of your music is strenuous.

Heres 7 tips on how to set realistic expectations with your songwriting :

1. Set realistic goals with each piece. Is this song an experiment, just practice, or the

keystone of your next album?

2. Don't expect every song to be spectacular. Some you'll just have to throw away.

3. Ask yourself, "is this song really, really important." If so, edit that sucker until it

glistens. If no, then lick your wounds and move on.

4. Don't fear failure. Embrace it. Failure always leads to innovation, if you stick to it longenough.

5. Be honest about where you are in your craft. If youve only written five songs in your

life, dont be that upset if a new song doesnt turn out well. Just keep moving forward.

6. Dont be lazy. Just because youve written five full length albums doesnt mean your

new song is golden. Always edit and experiment like your life depended on it.

7. If you write at all, that means you have a passion. So trust yourself. You are talented.

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Writing is hard stuff, but I do it, so

Come On, Of Course You can Too

From me to you, from one writer to another, I know the hard road of artistic creation. I know

how hard it is to gather up enough material to start writing and how hard it is to take

yourself out of your own head to see from another persons perspective. I have carried the

load of the writer, and I am still standing. And Im still writing.

I hope these tips help and encourage you. I hope you never give up on your craft or yourself.

I know that sounds like super cheese, but I really do. I want you to succeed and to never lose

faith - never.

From one writer to another, good luck out there.

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35 Bullet Proof Ways to Step-Up Your

Performance Chops

Performing is one of the cornerstones of a musicians life. Typically, when people picture

being a musician and performing, they think of being a rock star and playing to stadium

sized crowds. In the real world however, musicians perform to coffee house crowds or to

recital crowds. For example, a college music major doesnt perform for MTV. They perform

for academic juries, college concerts, private recitals, and school tours. A busking musician

doesnt play for Saturday Night Live. They perform to people walking down the street or to

label producers looking for a new act. Trust me, performing isnt glamorous. Its a lot of

friggin work.

The 5 Components of Performing

Ive played on a church stage, college stage, recital stage, cafe stage, garage stage, basement

stage, bedroom stage, studio stage, and club stage. Ive played in front of five people and in

front five hundred people, and Ive found that performing comes down to:

1. Preparation2. Experience

3. Confidence

4. Acting

5. Logistics

So, let me walk you through each one of these pillars of performing and give you tips from

my own hard fought lessons.

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7 Tips on How to Actually be Prepared for a

Performance

Performing is a vast illusion. A great musician tricks you into thinking that performing is

effortless. In reality - it is back breaking work. So how do they do it? How do they make it

look so easy? They prepare like theres no tomorrow. Seriously, it takes hours upon hours of

preparation to make just one concert look effortless. So how do you prep like a pro?

Heres 7 tips on how to be the Prince of prep:

1. Practice. Practice your scales, chords, lyrics, etc. for hours and hours and hours.What...? Umm, no...theres no magic bullet to replace practicing (not even on Craigs

List).

2. Not knowing what the stage is physically like will cause you to fret, so just mentally

visualize the stage. Its weird, but it really does help you feel more comfortable by

making the unknow at least partially known.

3. You should NEVER need sheet music or a lyric sheet or a written set list. You should

always have your music down cold. Paper is a crutch.

4. Prep in building blocks. Practice your musicianship (scales-chords-etc), then your

songs, and then your entire setlist. Its like a stone arch; if one block is missing, the

whole thing falls apart.

5. Get out of the house. Go to open mics or sign up for recitals. You cant prep for a

crowd if youve never been in front of one.

6. After youve played a show, RIGHT AWAY, make a list of what worked and what

didnt. Then, adjust accordingly for the next show. Yeah, concert prep is that simple

sometimes.

7. Do a dress rehearsal in your living room. Set up your entire rig (speakers and all)

and pretend youre playing to a crowd. Just like mentally visualizing the stage, this

will help prep you for the vast difference between your living room and a rock club.

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7 Tips on How to Build Up Your Confidence to the

B.A Boss Level

Being a musician isnt all about music. To be a great performer, of course you have to hone

your musical chops, but you also have to be a confident person. I know confidence is hard to

build up and even harder to hold on to, but you just have to have it in order to be worth

your salt as a musician. But dont fret

Heres 7 tips on how to gain confidence and how to hold on to it:

1. Believe in self-fulfilling prophecies. Just tell yourself, youre great, and eventually -you will be. In other words, bluff it until its true.

2. Surround yourself with encouraging friends - not pessimistic ones. Good friends will

see your ambition and will support you and will help you build your confidence.

Thats what my friends have done for me.

3. To build confidence: stop caring about what you think the crowd is thinking about

you. Go to zen. Lose yourself in your songs. And say, screw you.

4. Confident people arent perfectionists. Stop getting hung up on your failures.

Instead, just play your darn songs.

5. To displace your fear and bolster your confidence just remind yourself: that you just

spent 8hrs a day for three weeks practicing your music. You know your stuff, so shut

up and play.

6. Confidence is NEVER cockiness. Confidence is beating down your inner fear - not

beating down those around you. So, stop using the excuse that being confident =

being a jerk to stop your from boldly taking the stage.

7. Practice, practice, practice to dispel your inner fears. Im the most un-confident when

Im the most unprepared.

JAMES RAWSON 32


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7 Tips on How to Be an Bonafide Actor (in a Good

Way) on Stage

Do you act EXACTLY the same at home and at a heavy metal concert - at work and at an art

museum? No, of course not! So be genuine, but please dont act like you're at home when

you're at McDonalds. More to the point, when you step on the stage, you are filling a very,

very different social role. Youre being an entertainer. So, for gods sake dont act like your

normal boring self.

Heres 7 tips on how to be an actor on stage and not be fake:

1. Yup, everyone is watching you when youre on stage, so be conscious of that and

dont act like a dufus. Know the difference between your living room and the concert

stage.

2. Please - for the love of god - dress for the stage. You should look like you belong on

that stage and not like the announcer said, Hey you - yeah, you over there. Wanna

play a few songs? The real bands stuck in traffic.

3. Just because youre in Stage Mode doesnt mean you cant be funny or casual, butyou have to guard your image (aka Brand) with your life, so dont do anything your

Brand will regret in the morning.

4. You are walking marketing. How you dress, smile, shake hands, and greet fans at the

merch table all reflect your Brand. So you better make sure that you actually act

like your Brand.

5. To figure out how to act on stage, think of what you admire in other performers:

angst? gravitas? soft-spokenness? Then just figure out how you can copy them.

6. Always play with unbridled passion. To do that: go subconscious. Stop thinking of

marketing, acting, or anxiety and just be a musician - a person who plays music.

7. To give a dramatic performance, dig in. Remember what inspired your song and the

emotions behind it.

JAMES RAWSON 33


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7 Tips for Nailing Down the Pesky Logistics of

Performing

Gremlins - are real. Or at least they sure seem real when youre performing, and when

something technical goes wrong, it shakes me to my core. Im so thrown off balance after

that that my performance always suffers, so in order to give a killer show, you have to

mercilessly exterminate those scheming gremlins.

Heres 7 tips on how to be a concert logistics master (and gremlin Terminator):

1. Write an itemized list of the equipment you need to play a concert - like: 2 guitars. 5

speaker cables. etc. Then check that list (and check it again and again) when you loadup and when you load out.

2. Get luggage just for your show supplies. I use a specific back-pack just for my cables

and microphone. And always pack your supplies in this luggage so you dont scatter

and lose them between last months show and the one you have next week.

3. Figure out a packing pattern for your supplies and your vehicle. I have a specific way I

pack everything in my car to: 1. make sure everything fits and 2. make sure I never

lose/forget anything.

4. Run loading drills. Practice packing up your supplies and unpacking them, then when

it comes time for your real concert - you wont be anxious because you know

EXACTLY where and how your supplies fit together.

5. ALWAYS - double check with the venue about your load in time, and then - show up

15mins before it.

6. ALWAYS - make sure you know preciously the directions to the venue, and then

factor in a generous amount of extratravel time for 1. tolls 2. construction 3. traffic 4.

gas and 5. your smartphone dying and you losing your Google Maps.

7. ALWAYS - know (by first and last name) your point-man at the venue: the person

who knows youre coming, can tell you where to park, and will pay you at the end of

the night.

JAMES RAWSON 34


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You Dont have to be Lady Gaga Crazy

to be an Amazing Performer - But You

Really Do have to be Compelling

Performing is one of the most back-breaking tasks a musician has to undertake. But, no

matter what type of musician you are, you have to conquer performing, otherwise your

career wont move an inch. For example, an instrumentalist has to conquer performing in

front of a orchestra. A conductor has to conquer performing in front of a concert hall. An

undergraduate has to conquer performing in front of her professors. An indie rocker has to

conquer performing in front of a empty coffee house.

But if you thoroughly prepare for your concert, if you build up performance experience, if

you bolster your inner confidence by beating back your inner fears, if you learn how to act

on stage and off, and if you nail down the numerous logistics of putting on a concert - youll

do just fine out there in the wide wild world of the stage.

Trust me.

JAMES RAWSON 35


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Conclusion

Being a musician isnt for the faint of heart, but if youre reading this than you already knowthat. You already know how back-breaking and how heart-wrenching it is. But I hope you

know the other side too.

I hope you know that you do what normal people cant. You play music. And I sure hope

you know how spiritual, transdent, therapeutic, thought-provoking, and calming music can

be. See, as an artist, you rise above the average to hand down something divine. In some

ways, being a musician and being a prophet are similar. Youre not normal and youre bent to

always be in front of a crowd.

I really do want to extend my hand to you though. This whole book is just me saying, Hey -

I know its tough to play music, but heres whats helped me. Now, please - help your

friends too. Make your own list of tips and give it to your friends. Or (more to the spirit side

of things) just be kind and supportive to your fellow musicians.

Being a prophet - I mean musician - is a weird calling. We need all the help we can get.

Sincerely,

James

JAMES RAWSON 36

Documents

140 Bullet Proof Ways to Thrive in the Musician's Life