As a lot of you know it’s been a busy month here (I’ll be writing a blog about it soon) and one of the things I’ve been struggling with has been feeling insecure. In the last month I’ve played with some incredible players and amazing producers, and I’ve felt a little intimidated by the talent level. 

Fortunately I got to talk with a friend and veteran session musician Steve Brewster, and he had some really great advice for getting through insecurities in the studio and on stage. Here was his three points: 

1. They called you because they know you can do the job. 

If they called you, they want you for the gig and they know that you can do what they asked. Even in small towns there are literally dozens of options for who they could call. They picked you because you are ideally suited to play the gig. This helped me relax, and focus on just being the best I can be in a session instead of trying to be something I’m not. 

2. Give yourself time to obsess about the gig. 

Steve suggested that I take a fixed amount of time and bust butt on the project. He suggested looking over any music notes, practicing through songs, and anything else that I needed to do to get ready, with one catch: when I was done preparing, I was done thinking about it. Steve stressed that it’s important to get it out of my system so that I didn’t have stress about it all the time. 

3. Be grateful. 

The biggest take away I got from our conversation was to be grateful, and to constantly focus on the good things that have happened in the past and in the present. This will set you up to be happy and more confident as you enter the session. 

How do you get ready for a gig? Leave a comment below.