As a one man band, I’m tasked with not just performing, but running every aspect of my business in order make those performances happen- practice, preparation, marketing, sales, contracts, accounting, tech research, maintenance, and monitoring popular music trends to help me decide which songs I should be playing next.

As an artist, I’m always in search of inspiration, and as an entrepreneur, I’m always trying to take DQB to the next level. So to get my fix, I flew to Nashville this past weekend for one of the biggest conferences in the music industry- The NAMM Show.

What an inspiration!

At first, I was just in awe. All of my favorite gear manufacturers were under one roof, luring me to demo their newest products and itching to show me all of the ins and outs. I was surrounded by all of the experts who wanted to share their knowledge through the Idea Center and the TEC tracks, and I got to hear some really great musicians perform too.

As I sorted through the countless lines of notes I had taken over the three days, I got the itch to share this with all of you- music lovers, party lovers, event planners, fellow musicians, roadies, and mom (who I know loves to check my website pretty often, mostly to see where I am today).

The 5 things I learned at NAMM

• I’m incredibly grateful to do what I do for a living

When I left my corporate job (almost exactly one year ago), I had a lot of people ask me what the f*&% I was doing. Especially as a husband and soon-to-be baby daddy, I continue to run into skeptics everywhere. There’s definitely a preconceived notion that music is a tough industry in which to make a living, and as I look back on the past year, I realize that it really is. I spoke to quite a few other artists at the show who shared their struggles with me, and I just realized how grateful I am to be doing this, and for everything and everyone that got me here, and that means you. Thank you!

• No matter how far I’ve come, I’ll always have a long way to go.

Just as I was getting warmed up on a brand new Taylor guitar, an older man took the stool next to me and started to effortlessly shred some really incredible licks. Just as I had learned to slice a synth loop in the Roland booth, a younger guy walked up next to me, took the controls, and started putting on a live techno show. Wow! There are just so many great musicians out there to take inspiration from, and no matter how much I learn, there will always be more to learn.

• Getting to the next level still takes a major time investment

We live in a time of instant gratification. We click a “request” button and an Uber driver is at our door. We can select an Instagram filter and suddenly feel like a professional photographer. We push a “sync” button and our beats are matched. There is so much that technology can do for us with the click of a button, but while there are tools we can use to shine or to get noticed, there still needs to be an major time investment to be a consistently outstanding musician, producer, or performer. Software needs to be configured. Waveforms need to be tweaked. Sequences need to be programmed. Relationships need to be built. Brands need to be grown. As much as we live in an automated world, there is still no “make me a great” app. Anyone who wants to take a big stage still needs to put in a great deal of work, or enlist the help of others.

I left NAMM with a list of about 50 things that I want to do, and a heart racing with excitement for when I would get to start.

• Whether we like it or not, music performance is always evolving!

There was so much new gear at NAMM. Platforms that I had never heard of, concepts that were new to me, sounds that I had never heard, and presentations that completely changed the way I look at live musical performance.

At first I was a bit intimidated, but after digesting everything that was going on, I felt more excited than anything. Musical performances and show production are just becoming more and more advanced every day, and I’m so excited to start introducing some of this new technology at my shows.

• I’m going to be doing this for a long time

There was a canvas print in my hotel room at the Omni that read “In memory, everything seems to happen to music – Tennessee Williams”. I couldn’t agree more. Music is a part of our human existence that will always be changing, but never going away. If I want to keep up with it, well, that’s on me.

I can’t wait to get my hands on some of these new tools and take the live DQB shows to the next level. Seeya out there!

DQ