One of my favorite parts of making an album is recording electric guitar! Warm up the tubes, plug ‘er in and blast it! It’s very rare that I get to be this loud and obnoxious in my house, but for the next week I have the perfect excuse!
Feeling like a rockstar today.
On another note, a good friend of mine asked me to get in touch with an aspiring musician getting ready to graduate from High School. I felt kind of stumped at first. What advice do you give to someone who’s about to enter the big bad world of the music industry? Where do I even start?! Trying not to make this kid’s head explode, or turn him off from music forever, I let him in on my biggest regret; not focusing on becoming famous and/or “succeeding” in the industry. I wasted so much time and energy trying to “get famous” when I should have been focusing on playing as many shows as possible, writing great songs, working on my skills as a musician, and enjoying myself. I wish I had gone out there and did what I needed to do (ie play shows, go to open mics, meet new people) and not worried about making money or becoming popular. Worrying about becoming successful over time made me depressed, frustrated and very discouraged from playing music.
In a weird way, it wasn’t until I decided to go back to school for Physics that I started actually enjoying playing music. Now that I’ve accepted that music isn’t my “meal ticket” (at least for the time being), I can let go and have fun with it! All that pressure of being successful is gone! It’s amazing how much pressure we put on ourselves, and how doing just that totally exacerbates the problem and gets us no where.
Of the classmates I graduated with at Berklee, I’d say the most successful are the ones who went out there, hit the road, booked their own tour, and recorded their own album. They threw caution to the wind and did what they needed to do. Sometimes being overly cautious about something can prevent you from achieving anything. You’ve gotta just go do it, and don’t worry about the outcomes.
If you were approached by a young person on the brink of entering your field of work, what would you say to them?
Peace and Love,
HSR
Heather Scarlett Rose 