Systems are Better Than Goals
It's super easy to make musical goals. But goals are different from dreams.
I think of goals like an Instagram post. Great motivation, but not the thing.
So if you set a goal of playing your first solo show, that's great. But then you have to build systems to get you there.
I'm thinking about this this morning because I've mildly, through fits of dangerous over-motivation, said "yes" in the past from probably something just like an Instagram post. It's like, Just say yes and watch the magic happen, or whatever the hell it said.
That's great. But then you have to organize and do the work. You're now obligated.
If you say yes you'll play bass then someone sends you the songs. To learn. In Austin, rehearsing isn't really a thing for a lot of gigs. (I learned this in the worship space too. I was surprised that was the case, but whatever.) You said yes, so you're obligated to come prepared.
Now you kind of have to build (then follow) a system to learn then practice. (That's what I'm talking about when I say I have to stay ahead of things, because you get knocked off the rails all the time. Then you have to adjust.)
So I think, musically, if you want all your dreams to come true, what's a dream? What's a goal? And then how do I build systems?
Scott Adams—R.I.P.—was kind of vilified at the end of his life for becoming a MAGA influencer. I think he got caught up in the wave because he was one of the people predicting the rise of Donald Trump.
But his ideas on systems were amazing/ accurate.
And his dreams started pretty mystically, repeating while looking at himself in the mirror--and writing 15 times daily, "I, Scott Adams, will become a syndicated cartoonist."
I think, for me, the differentiating factor between systems and goals is you can always keep your goal the same, but if you're building systems, it's trial and error. You just stick with the things that work, eliminate what does not. a/k/a: pay attention.
You wanted/ asked to do X. All the stuff between where you are now and X is facilitated by the system.
You have to try a bunch of different things. Fail. You have to experiment. A LOT of trial and error. No magic.
I was listening to a podcast with some total bros the other day, and they were talking to somebody who knows what they're doing as far as building a musical career.
They asked, "Well, how do you experiment? If you have an idea and you bring it in, how do you do that?"
It was a remarkably ignorant question.
You just do it. You just try things.
I think they were putting so much pressure on the success of any and every idea or experiment that they couldn't understand how experiment or try. Like at all. So weird. (The industry professional just let out go. What a chud.)
I have found that when I find something that works, it almost always works. I'll give you an example.
I'm preparing the Daphne Falls set for next week. We're playing next Saturday. I think it's going to be easiest for me to bring the MPC Live One.
The reason this really works is the separate outputs. If I only had two outputs, but I'm playing bass and I have drums going and keyboards going, I may need to separate those into mono outputs. I have that option with the MPC Live One. I don't have it with the MPC Key 37, which I think is a little bit of an oversight on their part because it makes it a little less useful live.
I guess I could bring an audio interface at that point, but maybe that's an option. I don't know.
Anyway.
If I play live with the MPC Live One, I don't have the keys, so I've got to use the 16 pads for the color lead lines. That means I need to use the chord and note-numbering system. I could play it in key with that system, or I could just go chromatic.
This happened to me in my reggae days (yes-lol). All the songs were so similar and long that I had to switch to the number system when playing. Otherwise I would space out and forget who I was/ where I lived.
So really, today I've got to pick one method and commit. And I've got to redo my notes. And then practice.
All because, systematically, I've done all the other necessary work: built the tracks, narrowed down the leads, and now I'm in the phase where I've got two weeks to noodle around and practice what I'm actually going to do live, which is mostly this synth atmosphere kind of thing. Mood.
Recommendation and Advice Warning
The book is linked here. Scott Adams was really good. I hate to give advice, but: who cares about his politics? This book was written before I think I ever heard him talk about Donald Trump.
It's a great book if you're a creative person with a day job who needs to figure out how to make time and build your artistic thing outside of what you're doing to put food on the table.