While it probably doesn’t seem like this would help – let’s face it – if you are unwilling to play a lot of wrong notes, you’re never going to learn how to do anything hard. And improvising is hard! It isn’t something that you can do safely, with the assurance that you will look good while trying to get good at it. You won’t look good. You won’t sound good — and the sooner you realize this, the sooner you will be able to do something of real value. Strangely, we are from a culture that reinforces the idea that we should always look good. I mean...

Was the request six months ago, a sixtieth birthday party, the client said. It got me thinking. There is a whole untapped market out there for people who lived as teenagers and twenty somethings through the sixties and seventies. They are all coming up to this big sixtieth birthday date and they all love the kind of music I love to play and earn my living out of! More than that, their kids are off their hands, their mortgage is paid up and they can afford to splash out on a big celebration. That isnt the real reason for writing this article, in fact it has very little to do with the subject which...

Whenever I go to a Borders bookstore here in San Diego, I make it a point to look at the art instruction books. I’m not a visual artist, but I’ve always enjoyed the step-by-step approach authors of the better books take to teach students how to create a finished painting. You get to see it all demonstrated within 2 pages or so. Everything is explained and while I may not understand it by just reading about it, (you have to do it!) a complete finished painting was always the goal – a very attractive goal too for someone wanting to learn how to paint! You have something worth working...

Should you copyright your song? If you’re a songwriter, sooner or later you will probably have some questions about getting your material copyrighted. Since I’ve already been down this road before, you might be able to benefit from my experience. Though I am not an expert in the field, I do believe that I have some valuable information to share with you. Having been online for over a year now, I’ve noticed that there seems to be a bit of confusion regarding the subject of copyrighting. A fairly common question among people who frequent songwriting forums is “How do I copyright...

Do you ever feel there is an inner voice speaking to you, telling you that youre not very good, or you cant do it, or theres just not enough confidence and repertoire with you? This is the voice that calls itself I right? Lets refer to this as Self 1, and Self 2 as the normal you, the real you that has the masses of potential. Self 1 is our interference and concepts such as our judgements, associations, how things should be and uses words such as should and shouldnt. Have you ever noticed that? For example, you shouldnt play there tonight because the audience are just going to laugh at you. Self...

I can’t believe how much of the year has gone by, but all the same, it’s unbelievable how much I’ve grown through the year and most of it, from demolishing my need to perform. I grew up playing a lot of hockey, being captain of both my schools when I was in Nigeria and London. The highlight of my career came when I was 10 on a wonderful warm day when we were playing an outdoor hockey game. Apparently I did some really cool skill with the stick and the ball. Everyone was like wow and clapping. I didnt really understand what I did, but nevertheless it was great and I learnt something....