10) Don’t complain about the monitors while you’re playing.
9) A Sennheiser MD421 is a versatile microphone.
8) Don’t take anything on tour that you can’t bear to lose or have ruined or stolen.
7) Good or bad, don’t read your own record reviews.
6) Be in one of your favorite bands.
5) Veal at a truck stop? C’mon, what did you expect?
4) Buying gear won’t cure writer’s block. The number of guitars you own plus the number of effects pedals you own should equal the number of songs currently bouncing around in your head. Show your work.
And lastly the Big 3:
3) Don’t write a song to death. Leave it while you still like it.
2) Don’t practice a song to death. Leave room for something unexpected to happen. It’s going to end up being what you like about the song years later.
1) Don’t record a song to death. Recording things over and over until there’s nothing human about it will only produce the sterile kind of music that you and all your friends make fun of anyway. Make it real.
This article appears in September 16 • 2005.