So I was in the Musicians section of Craiglist recently, and someone had posted “Good musicians practice to get it right. Great musicians practice so they can’t get it wrong.”
What a sanctimonious, platitudiness sack of monkey bollocks.
Look, if you play live music, you will make mistakes. It’s a fact. The audience may not notice most of them, but you will make them. Good musicians plow through them and keep the train on the tracks. If you’re a type-A uber control freak that will flip out about mistakes, stay in the studio. Live music will kill you.
But here’s the thing. I accept mistakes as inevitable. However, I don’t want more of them than there needs to be. And I want my bandmates making them because they’re lost in the moment or playing something ambitious. I cannot abide mistakes due to sloth or poor preparation.
