Earning Potential

There I was having a conversation with my wife the other night at dinner about someones earning potential. The conversation never got heated, but there were some rough spots. It is my firm belief that education and wisdom are the 2 ways to increase your earning potential. The key word is potential, no one is garuanteed to make anything. I mean how many times have you heard about the guy that has a masters that can't get a job, it is like 1 in a million but it happens. I am a firm believer in constantly challenging yourself to learn new things, not only for yourself but it also increases your ability to make money. Lets apply it to music, makes sense since this blog is related to monkeyshyne. Most garage bands when they start make about $0 to $20 a show if they are lucky, the reason, because honestly they usually suck pretty good. I mean the drummer doesn't "need" a mentronome, the guitarist doesn't "need" to know notes, because he plays by feel and the singer doesn't need any formal training because that is just not what rock n roll is about...well bullshit. Of course that band will refust to play cover music or someone elses songs, because their stuff is that good. Sorry it is usually the opposite. You want to make money making music, learn, learn, learn, increase you wisdom and knowledge on your instrument, different styles of music and on the music business in general. This knowledge will never hurt you. I remember back in the day when I thought, "man if I learn how to formally play then I will loose the feel" damn, how sad was that. Now we make money at shows, trust me, we aren't "that good", but we are entertaining. Earning potential, go out learn things, experience things, grow, don't be afraid to F-up. Even go back to school and take some formal education, that is my belief, sure it isn't easy, but if it was everyone would do it...