A while back I had a reunion gig with some friends of mine that I hadn’t played with in over 15 years!!

It was certainly great to see everyone and to know that I wasn’t the only one not to age gracefully – except for the bass player – that well preserved S.O.B.! I am just kidding. Truthfully though, something happened that had a profound affect on me.

You see, after all of these years of playing, you develop a certain comfort with your abilities. Yeah, some nights are better than others, but for the most part there is a certain amount of consistency that you are able to do. I am usually pretty damn consistent and competent in most circumstances – except that night. I played like crap!! It felt like the strings were 10 inches off of the fret board. I couldn’t do any of the things that I normally do with such ease. Technique was shot. Timing was shot. Everything. Shot.

IT. MESSED. ME. UP!!!!

BIG TIME!!!!

I honestly thought that I had lost my ability to play well, especially with other people. I was devastated at the thought – truthfully devastated.

Now I had two choices: accept it is what it is OR fight hard to kick that feeling in the ass!

Lucky for me I chose to grab that feeling and whipped it’s butt. Now don’t get me wrong, this was HARD to do.

It is said that there is no such thing as defeat if you learn from it and carry on. Well I had to learn.Let me repeat myself:

This occassion was an OPPORTUNITY, not a DEFEAT.

An opportunity for me to learn – if I chose to do so. I did.

I broke down my playing and tried to analyze what went wrong. Why did I have a bad night? What have I changed over the years? What have I stopped doing?

I kept very clear that it was MY responsibility. Not the bass player. Not the drummer. Not the singer. Not anybody else. MINE. I can’t do anything about those people. I can only do something about ME.

This night caused me to practice more and practice smarter. Playing by yourself is one thing….playing with a band a whole nother story. So I started to jam more with the radio and cd’s. just like I used to when I first started playing guitar. I changed my thought patterns a little and adjusted my technique slightly. Most importantly though is I PLAYED!

Then there came the time where I had to test my analysis. It was finally time to go out and play live again. I have a wonderful friend who got his band to agree to let me sit in for a few songs – most of which I didn’t know and had to learn – FAST!

I did NOT want to do it.

Yeah, you heard me right….I did not want to do it. I was afraid. Afraid that I would suck and look like a fool. Man, I didn’t care if we were playing for 1,000 people or just the bartender, it was mostly that I didn’t want to look like a fool not in front of them – in front of me. I have a certain self standard.

Oh I agonized over this. A LOT!

Luckily for me, my friend pushed and pushed. I relented – mostly because I told him I would go and I try to stay true to my word. So I grabbed my stones and I went.

You know what happened? I screwed up big time!! No, just kidding. I represented myself well. The fact of the matter was, I didn’t care if the audience liked it, if the band liked it, if the cops liked it. I had to do this one for me. At the end of the night, I was able to hold my head up high again. I got the swagger back. For at least one night.

Why am I writing this? Because no matter what stage of the game you’re in, we all get knocked down. To paraphrase Michael Jordan, it is because we fail that we are able to succeed. Champions count the number of wins – NOT the number of losses. This allows them to get back up again and fight, fight, fight until the job is done. Yup, they may be scared s***less, but the do it anyway. Not for anyone else. For themselves.

You have it in you to almost anything you desire. You just have to keep up the fight and learn the lesson from defeat. The difference between Babe Ruth, Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Steve Vai, Eddie Van Halen, etc., etc., etc., and anyone else is they took more swings, shots, chances, and understood anything is possible given enough time.

Now go do YOUR impossible!! If you’re lucky enough you will have a friend push you out of your comfort zone, just like I did. If you don’t have  someone who will….then find someone. If you need – I will be that someone for you.

The world is waiting for YOU to BE GREAT, it is your turn to ACCEPT!

GET UP!

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