Teaching Their Gifts

We all have those who inspire, teach, and coach us through our careers. Here’s a few players who I have learned from; When I think of bassists who of mine who have inspired my I think of Flea, who’s second to none. And with his own style that includes slap, speed rock while driving the melody, who wouldn’t want to study his style. Jack Bruce is another musician who I listen to and has helped me with growing as a bassist. I always think of his style as a combination of jazz style bass and lead guitar. To listen to him with cream is an amazing experience in that every time I listen to a song like ‘Crossroads’ for instance, I hear something different. And all the while locking in with the kick drum. I have been called a lead bassist by Donna, however, not as a compliment. I’ll have to work on that. John Paul Jones has had a big impact on my playing today with our style of music. He and John Bonham locked in and carried all that rhythm and made it look and sound so easy. And they did it with big smiles on their faces, of course some of that may have been clinically induced. Gotta love Zeppelin!!!
I could go on and on with these incredible musicians and talk about players such as Geezer Butler (black sabbath), John Deacon (Queen), and of course, Steve Fossen (Heart), just to name a few.
These Cats are not only great stylists who opened the door for everyone else, but also assisted in the creation of some of the greatest bands and albums in the world. Gotta go…feelin the need to jam.
Check out our song ‘Do you love me’ It’s a lot of fun!!!
Be real and chill, Kerry

Focus On The Finish

In every sport, players are taught a game plan, and then how to execute that plan. They’re trained to follow through, no matter what sport they’re in.
I remember a basketball coach who we called Coach Carnes. He always pushed the point to ‘focus on the finish’ regardless if you got hit on the way up, or not; And he led by example. Every once in awhile we would hook up and play school yard ball, and he took a beating at an age where the pain might be drawn out the next day. He never complained; just kept scoring.
I thought about Coach Carnes recently and it made me think about how the competition we’re taught in sports could be used in everyday life. It’s no surprise that competition teaches us to win. Not to beat the other guy or team, but to have a strong team, a game-plan, and to make sure everyone does their job to execute that plan with follow-through, while ALWAYS focusing on the finish.
If one person drops the ball, it disrupts the flow and progress of the game plan. In addition to everyone else having to work extra jobs or play a lot of defense, due to the fact the momentum is gone, usually one person eventually ends up carrying the team on their shoulders. If that’s the case, burnout more than likely sets in, and all creativity is out the door because of one person with no follow through. Without new ideas and creativity, there’s no future plans. None of that has to happen. It just takes everyone playing (as big as they talk) and show that they can deliver.
So, while my advice is probably just worth a beer or a cup of coffee, use Coach Carnes’ philosophy and ‘focus on the finish.’
Be real and chill, Kerry

Teaching Their Gifts

We all have those who inspire, teach, and coach us through our careers. Here’s a few players who I have learned from; When I think of bassists who have inspired me, I think of Flea, who’s second to none. And with his own style that includes slap, speed rock while driving the melody, who wouldn’t want to study his style.

Jack Bruce is another musician who I listen to and has helped me grow  as a bassist. I always think of his playing  as a combination of jazz style bass and lead guitar sound. To listen to him play with Cream is an amazing experience in that every time I listen to a song like ‘Crossroads’  for instance, I hear something different. And all the while locking in with the kick drum. I have been called a lead bassist , however I don’t think it’s meant as a compliment. I’ll have to work on that. John Paul Jones has had a big impact on my playing today with our style of music. He and John Bonham locked in and carried all that rhythm and made it look and sound so easy. And they did it with big smiles on their faces. Of course some of that may have been clinically induced. Gotta love Zeppelin!!!

I could go on and on with these incredible musicians and talk about players such as Geezer Butler (Black Sabbath), John Deacon (Queen), and of course, Steve Fossen (Heart), just to name a few.
These Cats are not only great stylists who opened the door for everyone else, but also assisted in the creation of some of the greatest bands and albums in the world. Gotta go…feelin the need to jam.
Check out our song ‘Do you love me’ It’s a great tune to play!!!
Be real and chill, Kerry
https://itunes.apple.com/us/album/new-dance/id505307548

The Melody Of Music

While sitting in a meeting with one of our advisors and going over last year’s numbers and this year’s prospective numbers, we were talking of vision, drive, accountability, etc. Oddly enough, It occurred to me that running a business could have the same ingredients as writing a song (without the drama, of course). So, I wrote some comparisons down and thought you’d find it at least entertaining.
1 First of all, any song or business needs an ‘Idea or Vision.’ Without an idea, a song will drift into the land of forgotten, as a business will without vision. Actually, it’s impossible to pro-actively move forward with no vision in anything in life.
2 Next would be ‘Melody or Motivation.’ A melody will drive a song the same way motivation will drive a business. It’s essential to have these aspects in order to keep the attention and attract others to your song or bizz. Motivation and a strong melody Drives your vision…it’s the motor.
3 What gives this motor fuel is ‘Passion’ for delivery and presentation. Along with Vision And motivation, Passion is needed before even starting. This takes belief in what you’re doing.
4 Of course, ‘Accountability’ is the Ultimate key to anything in life. Without accountability, we are all just fooling ourselves into a (reality TV program).
Everything else is a waste of time unless one has these key items for success. I could get into hooks, slogans, verses, bridges and choruses, however, it would go from a blog to a synopsis and, I then, would need an opinion page. It breaks down to ‘You’ the creator being accountable to your vision and cutting out any weak links/lines that would drift your vision away from the bottom line, (whether it be a song or business). In our career, we’ve learned the hard way that if you have a weak link in your business or line of a song, it will effect everything else and in a business, like a song, it will destroy from within like cancer.
Understanding that this blog just scratches the surface, let me recommend that you learn from our coach. Look up ‘This Ain’t No Practice Life’ by our friend and coach michael burt at http://www.coachburt.com -And also look up ‘First Things First’ by Stephen Covey at http://www.stephencovey.com -know you’ll enjoy these great writers and they will only better your life.
Be real and chill, Kerry