Helen Money writes:

I just read your post. Gut reaction is to: 1) get a battery for my metronome and 2) make more mistakes in my writing.

The line “How do you create the real possibility for yourself to make mistakes and learn from them” really jumped out at me. I feel like I spend a lot of time trying to avoid making mistakes – which turns writing and playing into a real drag. A lot of the sounds that I’ve discovered were mistakes – like having a pedal come on accidentally and hearing a sound I wouldn’t have thought to make. Your post reminded me that I need to “play”, like, experiment more and let things happen.

The other thing that really struck me in your post was the part about rhythm. I think this is so important but really easy to forget. I remember one show I was doing – I was really nervous about my intonation – it’s really a challenge to play a fret less instrument in an amplified setting. Anyway, I was talking to this guitarist and he said “Don’t worry about your intonation, just think about the rhythm.” And he was right – it worked. Now when I’m nervous I really try to open up my ears and hear the beat and where I am in it.

Thanks so much for passing your post along. It’s given me a second wind.

Thanks for your comments.