This is the "official" start of a regular series of short blog posts about my favorite players, musicians, artists, songwriters, entrepreneurs, linguists, writers, etc. These posts will explore how they got to be so damn good at what they do.
I asked a simple question: What made a difference for you along the way? I wanted answers that were short, sweet, and (most importantly) practical.
First up ...
Damian Erskine
Damian is the man on electric bass. He is one of my close friends from Berklee College of Music. Though we usually only get to hang when we are recording or touring, I know this fellow has my back. He's like a big brother to me. And did I mention that his playing is so ridiculously funky, it should be illegal? If you don't know, now you know.
I asked Damian what made a difference for him as a player when he was coming up. Here's what he wrote:
"I think the two biggest things for me were what happened when I felt like I was in a rut, or never going to be good enough, or just not getting it.
I realized that whenever I had that feeling, I'd get down and feel like packing it all up.
This was CERTAINLY not going to get me anywhere so I made it a point to push even harder when I felt my resolve waning (and continue to!).
The second part is always being mindful of what I work on and how I practice. Being intentional and focused is key to effective use of practice time. If I was frustrated by not being able to play over jazz changes...well, I'd pick a tune and spend 20 minutes just arpeggiating over the chords and then spend 20 minutes learning the melody and then would spend a solid 20 minutes just playing over the tune...over and over again.
I'd take that approach with anything that I felt I was lacking in. Focus on it HARD and push through it until I struck upon something that made me feel better. It's amazing how quickly anyone can improve when they really put all of their energy into it.
So, in short, tenacity and intentionality. Never stop pushing and never push aimlessly."
There you have it! Thanks, Damian!
Check out Damian & I in Austin, TX at Momo's. Photo by Koko Bonaparte.
