Hmm interesting heading that isn’t it, get some perspective, what could that mean. It’s a thing that probably comes over people as they get older which is a shame as the time when you could use it the most is when you are younger and could do something with it. How many times in your life have you gone damn I wish I had done this, said that or followed a particular path different to the one you did ?. I would say that if you are like most of us probably a few times, even if it was only a rather trivial or small thing. What you did was put that particular action into hindsight or if you will, looked at it from another perspective and gained a different view on the merits of the action or path followed. It’s fantastic; hindsight is a perfect art, never wrong and always so wise, after the fact.

What I am trying to get you to do here is to look at your life and by this I am mostly referring to your playing and practicing and music career life and attempt to be able to view from another spot. Try to look at it for example from someone else’s point of view to see what they might think of your progress or performance. If you are always so preoccupied with what you are actually doing then you will sometimes fail to see the entire picture of your progress and goals and miss some really important truths that could help you out to achieve better results or to make a clearer and more beneficial career decision.

The process of being able to look at yourself or your playing from an outside point of view is very simple in a way. One excellent example is to record yourself practicing, playing a gig or doing a rehearsal. Once you have done this replay this recording to someone whose opinion of music you trust and value, watch how you will cringe when all those seemingly minor little mistakes in execution or technique that listening to it by yourselves you would just gloss over now that’s it’s in front of a peer come blasting out of the speakers like nothing you have heard before. There is no better way to reveal some of your playing faults than to try this exposure technique.

Perspective can also come along in the way of a peer or muso that has gone before you so to speak, someone who has learned valuable lessons and made mistakes, someone who has found a way to gain improvement quicker or to be better at getting, retaining and being recommended for quality gigs. People who have been through the industry can offer you great insight into the paths that you could choose to help you get where you want to be. You will to reach this understanding in your playing life but it may come to you too late to be of use to you.

Try to sit outside yourself and your immediate world  and have a think at what and how you are doing things and see if you can come across new ideas to help you, you and your band might just stumble onto something brilliant that otherwise may have been hidden form you until much later in your career.

Good luck
Dean