Terry Carter

The Terry Carter podcast is a space dedicated to helping musicians and business ownerdevelop the mindset and routines of success. Hosted by Terry Carter, who has spent his life as a musician and educator changing the lives of thousands of people around the world. As a successful business owner, guitar player, ukulele player, singer/songwriter, and producer, Terry has worked with artists such as Weezer, Josh Groban, 2-time Grammy winning composer Christopher Tin (Calling All Dawns), and Robbie Krieger (The Doors). He is the creator of Uke Like The Pros and Rock Like The Pros and has composed music for CBS, MTV, PUMA, and Animal Planet. Terry will share with you his experiences and lessons that will help you develop your own mindset of success.

Everything Ukulele | Custom Tyde Ukuleles with Tyler Joersz 05/06/2022

Everything Ukulele | Jazz Ukulele with the incredible Christopher Davis-Shannon 04/29/2022

Everything Ukulele | Ukulele Woods with Paul Okami 03/10/2022

Everything Ukulele | Hawaiian Koa Wood with Joe Souza & Kahiau Souza 02/21/2022

Final Results - 30 Day Vegan Challenge 08/17/2018

Final Results - 30 Day Vegan Challenge This episode I breakdown the results of my 4 week vegan challenge. Although I was only planning on doing it for a month, I have decided to continue on with my plant based life. My end weight after the 4 week challenge was 177.6 pounds and I started out at 181.4 pounds. I essentially lost 5 pounds by not changing a thing, I still worked out, meditated, and surfed, but only cut out meat and dairy from my diet. I’m feeling and looking better than ever. What has really helped me is having the support of my wife, who also did this challenge with me. She has been doing a lot of cooking which has really made it easier to life this lifestyle. I have tons of energy, I’m still lifting weights and feeling strong. I never realized how meat and dairy affected the way I felt, mainly in a negative way. I believe that everyone needs to go all plant based or at least mostly plant based. There is too much information available proving how much healthier we will be as individuals and a society if we switch to a plant based diet. Besides just feeling and looking great, you will reduce your risk of cancer, heart disease, and diabetes. One thing we have to realize is that we have been fed the wrong information over our lives regarding meat and diary. We are also trying to cut down the amount of processed food that we eat. Many times we see something like almond milk and think that it’s healthy, but if you look at the ingredients you’ll see that there is lots of chemicals used in production. You also have to learn about the impact that the factory farming is having on our environment. The amount of land, food, and water that is required to raise and grow animals for food production is extremely costly. We have to realize that these problems are real, and if you spend some time and do the research you’ll realize that you need to start making a difference. Do it for your health. Don’t you want to live a long and healthy life? If you keep eating a rich meat and diary diet your health will be effected. If you really want to feel better, live longer, and do something to help the planet, then you have to start to make a difference. If not you, who? If not now, when? - Arnold Swaggerer See more motivational videos by The Successful Musician https://bit.ly/2v1hjd1 Visit The Successful Musician podcast website a http://www.thesuccessfulmusician.com The Successful Musician + YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/thesuccessfulmusician + Instagram - http://www.instagram.com/thesuccessfulmusician + Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/thesuccessfulmusician + Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/successfulmus Thank you, Terry Carter /episode/index/show/thesuccessfulmusician/id/6937179

30 Day Vegan Challenge (End of Week 2) 07/07/2018

30 Day Vegan Challenge (End of Week 2) Today, I'm going to talk about how I'm feeling after finishing my 2nd week of my 30 Day Plant Based Vegan Diet. Just to be clear vegan is cutting out all meat and diary out of your diet. I was out surfing this morning and got motivated to rush home and record this. Even though the kids are stirring and the dog is out and about I wanted to share with you exactly how I'm feeling both mentally and physically. I'm feeling outstanding, my energy in incredible and I'm loving of my body is responding to this plant based diet. Although I don't sleep much anyway but I have been averaging 3-4 hours of sleep a night. But I think the key is that I'm getting up consistently at 4 AM to do my morning routine and my body and mind is locking into a solid routine. In this 2 week period I have lost 3 pounds. Losing weight has not been the goal but it's just a side of effect of cutting out the meat and diary out of my diet. Don't get me wrong it's nice to drop a few pounds but I am not starving myself or limiting the amount of food I'm eating. As long as it's vegan I'm eating as much and whenever I want. Here is what my diet is looking like right now: - Banana with almond butter in the morning. - Oatmeal with flaxseeds, chia seeds and blueberries. - Raw vegetables: carrots, bell peppers, zucchini, cucumbers, with hummus. - Black bean burger (without a bun) - Organic home popped pop corn. - Fruits: apples, pears - For dinner: sweet potatoes, quinoa, peas or corn For date night my wife and I have found several really great vegan restaurants here in the San Diego area. We have also found a vegan bakery that makes the most amazing cookies and desserts, and we even found a vegan double chocolate gelato that is to die for. Going vegan is a great choice but can be difficult to explain to your family and friends. My advice is that you have to be strong in your convictions of why your choosing a vegan diet. But I recommend that you talk to them and answer their questions and inform them the best that you can. Remember that this is a 30 day vegan challenge for me. It's no different than when I did the 30 day sugar detox a few months ago. It's give it a shot for 30 days and then see how you feel. You don't have to be locked down to something for the rest of your life. Maybe you want this to become a permanent part of your life but take it one day at a time. For example I do eat sugar now, but it's in very limited quantities and I'm more aware of sugar and how much of it I consume. You have to be able to make it at least 30 days of stopping something. If you can't stop drinking, smoking, eating sugar or eating meat, then you have to examine your discipline. If you struggle with discipline and courage there are many great resources out there, especially here on YouTube that can help you. I recently finished the book Lone Survivor by Marcus Luttrell. An amazing book on courage, resilience, toughness, and determination. The story is about the worse tragedy in US Navy SEAL history. After all 3 of his SEAL team is killed he fights and crawls for his survival. He talks about after being down and deflated he decides that he is going to grab a rock, stretch it out in front of him, draw a line in the dirt, and crawl to the line. Once he reaches the line he drew another line and crawled to it. He did this for over 7 miles to escape the enemy who were looking for him to kill him. Here is a short video by Marcus Luttrell https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H_Pi42Hv858 Remember to stay in the present moment, don't look to the future. Take it one day at a time even one meal at a time to help create that discipline. Quote of the day: "You got to be f#(@* tired of not being #1" Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson See more motivational videos by The Successful Musician https://bit.ly/2v1hjd1 Visit The Successful Musician podcast website at http://www.thesuccessfulmusician.com The Successful Musician + YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/thesuccessfulmusician + Instagram - http://www.instagram.com/thesuccessfulmusician + Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/thesuccessfulmusician + Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/successfulmus Terry Carter /episode/index/show/thesuccessfulmusician/id/6784484

30 Day Vegan Challenge 06/15/2018

30 Day Vegan Challenge Today I'm going to talk about my 30 Day Plant Based Diet that I'm trying. As a successful musician you can't perform at a high level if you don't feel good. Many of you know that I'm big on exercise, eating well, meditating, positive thinking, and reading a lot. Although lately I haven't been feeling 100%. I wouldn't say that I have felt bad, but I feel like there was some room for improvement. In attempts to better health I decided to do a 30 day all plant based diet. This is something that I'm a little scared of. I have eaten meat and dairy my entire life so giving it up, even for 30 days is scary. Although my diet didn't involve a lot of meat or dairy, mainly chicken or fish with dinner or eggs with my breakfast or milk with my coffee, but I felt like it may have been the thing causing me to feel the way I was. We also generally tried to avoid red meat and only had it occasionally. I was watching some videos on Netflix and it started to change the way that I was thinking about meat and dairy. I high recommend watching these 2 documentaries about food and diet. The first is called, In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan https://www.netflix.com/title/80097071 The second is called, Forks Over Knives https://www.netflix.com/title/70185045 What is great about this videos is that they have great information and studies on how much food and diet can not only help us feel better, but how it can actually reverse many of the diseases so many people suffer from. Diseases such as diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, and even cancer. Another great thing about these videos is that they are not scare tactic videos. They don't try to get to get you to eat a plant based diet by showing tons of animals being mistreated or abused. Matter of fact the Michael Pollan video talks about eating a mostly plant based diet. I watched both these videos on a Saturday night and decided the very next day to try to go plant based or vegan. I was nervous to approach my wife about this because, this would essentially change the way we ate. When I mentioned to her that I wanted to try a plant based diet, she didn't say a word, she simply turned around and pulled out 4 books on plant based eating. She purchased the books a while ago but was actually nervous to talk to me about going to a vegan diet. To my delight she was totally on board with this diet and even ready like I was to start immediately. I love the fact that we didn't ease into it or go out and eat a bunch of meat or dairy and then start the diet. It was literally like let's start right now. We decided to give the plant based diet a 30 day trial and see how we felt. This is very similar to the 30 day sugar free diet we did at the beginning of the year. Here is the vlog on it, https://youtu.be/74Y0FXfSVT4 I'm convinced based on the research that I have done and the experiments I have tried with eating, that this will make me feel better, have more energy and perform at even a higher level. This whole thing comes down to being successful and you can't be successful if you don't feel well. You have to feel good, be energetic, and you have to put the right things in your body, along with all the other things such as exercise, meditation, and breathing. So far I feel great. I know that it has only been a few days and sometimes changes are easy at first but can be more of a struggle as time goes on, so let's see how I feel after a week, 2 weeks, a month, or even after 6 months. I can tell you this, I feel great this week. I feel full after eating a meeal but I don't feel stuffed like you do so many times after eating a big meat based meal. I highly recommend watching the films that I suggested above and whether they make you change your diet or not, but hopefully they will at least make you think more about the food you put in your body. The better you treat your body, the better you treat your mind, the more your going to become that better performer, the better songwriter, or whatever your goals are to become a successful musician. Quote of the day: "The way you do one thing is the way you do everything." See more motivational videos by The Successful Musician https://bit.ly/2v1hjd1 Visit The Successful Musician podcast website at http://www.thesuccessfulmusician.com The Successful Musician + YouTube - + Instagram - + Facebook - + Twitter - Terry Carter /episode/index/show/thesuccessfulmusician/id/6710489

How To Deal With Failure When You Suck 06/06/2018

How To Deal With Failure When You Suck In this 4K motivational video I'll discuss how I dealt with a performance where I sucked and learned to be better. Part of any kind of success is also going through some low points or failures. Today instead of telling you something I did well at or excelled at, I’m going to discuss something that I failed at. This is a story that is hard to discuss because we want to believe that we always perform at high levels and that we are essentially “perfect.” I got a call from a good buddy and wanted to know if I wanted to teach a summer guitar class and perform for the faculty concert at what was then called L.A.M.A. (the Los Angeles Music Academy). I said yes since I would do anything for this friend but also because I was going to teach a class at the school in the Fall and thought it would be a good way to get to know the other faculty and staff. Shortly after agreeing to do the gig, my grandpa passed away suddenly. This was extremely difficult because I wasn’t prepared and I was really close to my grandpa. He had helped raise me and helped me become the man that I am today. Plus, this was the first time that I had someone close to me die. Within’ a few days of my grandpa’s passing, my wife and I had our yearly trip to England to visit her grandma. We were going to be in England for 2 weeks and then the concert was literally the day after we got back to Los Angeles. I had my guitar and the setlist for the hour show, but honestly it was extremely difficult to concentrate on anything except just coping with the loss. Although there was only about 8 songs, I didn’t devote very much time to preparing for the concert. When we returned to Los Angeles the summer school started the next day and the concert was the very first day of school. As I walked into the performance hall I didn’t know any of the musicians and besides a sound check there was no rehearsal for the show. The room was filed with students, faculty, and recording equipment. We played the show and I sucked. I played horribly. I wasn’t prepared properly, I missed intros, and I wasn’t in the right state of mind. I didn’t feel great after the concert but I got a call from buddy who hired me for the gig and he said that the school no longer wanted me to teach there the next semester. I actually played so bad that I got fired. I felt bad for a few reasons. First, I let my buddy down, he trusted me with this gig and put his name on the line and I didn’t come through. Second, playing bad in front of your colleagues and students is hard to deal with. I remember thinking to myself, would I ever get hired from my buddy again? Would he ever trust me or my talents again? What I realized is that you always have to push through these situations. You either have to find a positive or learn something that you can take away from the experience. Now that I look back at the situation, yes it is still a little painful, but I ask myself why did I take the gig? I knew that I was going to be out of town on vacation up until the gig which would leave me little time to prepare like I wanted to. Plus, after my grandpa passed, I should have gotten someone else to do it, knowing that I wouldn’t be in the right state of mind to play a show. If your not prepared or don’t have the time to prepare to get something to the level that you want it to be, then don’t do it. You never want to embarrass yourself or let other people down. The good news was that I have worked with my buddy many times after this event and he did trust me as we played and worked with some fairly popular artists such as Josh Groban, Weezer, and Robby Krieger from The Doors. I have also learned that whenever I agree to work on a project I will always put in my best effort and make sure I have the time to achieve at a high level. Realize that you are going to have a lot of successes in your career but you are also going to have a lot of failures as well. You have to learn how to deal with and learn from your failures the best that you can. “If your striving for excellence their is no such thing as over preparation” - Col. Chris Hadfield See more motivational videos by The Successful Musician https://bit.ly/2v1hjd1 Visit The Successful Musician podcast website at http://www.thesuccessfulmusician.com The Successful Musician + YouTube - http://youtube.com/thesuccessfulmusician + Instagram - http://www.instagram.com/thesuccessfulmusician + Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/thesuccessfulmusician + Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/successfulmus Terry Carter /episode/index/show/thesuccessfulmusician/id/6675941

Track Your Goals | Lose Weight | Sugar Detox 05/31/2018

Track Your Goals | Lose Weight | Sugar Detox In this 4K motivational video I'll discuss how to Track Your Goals and achieve the success in life that you are looking for. You have your dreams and you set your goals but now you have to track your progress along the way. I'm going to use my weight as an example to demonstrate how you can use tracking to reach your goals. I set a goal to get to 180 pounds. Since I was at 191 pounds that meant that I had to lose 11 pounds. My first step was to start a sugar and carb detox. For 3 weeks we completely cut out sugars, yes even fruit, and all carbs (breads, grains, etc.). I still did my daily exercise, lifting weights, stretching, and meditation but really focused on controlling my diet. We already lived a pretty healthy diet but decided to step it up a level. To track my weight and my progress I decided that at 7:00 AM every Monday I would weigh myself. This allowed me to get an accurate weight and allowed me to see if what I was doing was working. Week 1 I weighed in at 191 pounds. By week 2 I dropped 2 pounds and was 189. Week 3 I got down to 185. So it was working, just by simply cutting out sugar I had dropped 6 pounds. By tracking your sugar intake and reading food labels, you begin to realize that there is sugar in everything. So many products that we buy at the grocery store, many which you would never think of, have sugar in them. Sugar is so addicting and taste good, that many companies put it in to not only help with taste but to sub-consciously get addicted so you will buy the product again. Finding foods without sugar can be difficult but with a little work and awareness it can be done. Week 4 rolls around and I'm at 185 again. To be exact it was 185.4, just like the week before. The next week 185.4 and then the following week 185.4 yet again. I started to think that the scale was broken. Four straight weeks I didn't fluctuate at all. Although this can be discouraging since I'm working so hard and sacrificing foods I love to eat but I had to stay the course until I reached my goal of 180 pounds. The following week I get down to 182 pounds. Finally have a month I start heading in the right direction again and lose over 3 pounds. Then the next week I hit 181 pounds and then at the time of this video I was 180.8 pounds. So I was 0.8 pounds away from my goal. The main reason I did this was for health reasons and to overall feel better. By tracking my weight every week it allowed me to see if what I was doing was working. Is the diet I'm doing working? Is the exercise I'm doing working? Let's say that one week I was 185 pounds and the next week I went to 187 pounds. Then I could look back and ask myself, "why did I go up 2 pounds?" Did I eat poorly? Did I not exercise enough? Whatever the reason, I now know that I have to make some adjustments this week to get the results that I'm looking for. The line to success is never straight, it's a winding road that you have to learn from your mistakes, make adjustments, and find new solutions. But, if your not tracking your progress then you don't know how close you are to your dreams and your goals. Even though I'm using my weight in this example you can do this with anything, doesn't matter what your dreams or goals are. You need to track it, write it down everyday, every week, or every month whatever your system it to track it. You have to track it, this way you don't do something for 3 months and realize that what your doing isn't working. All your dreams are possible, all your goals are possible, but track them, and keep an idea of where your at. Also, when you hit small milestones and start having some success you start feeling good about yourself and start gaining some confidence. I have 0.8 pounds to go to hit my goal and when I do I'll set a new goal. Update I did reach my goal and got down to 179.6 pounds. Track your dreams and track your goals. See more motivational videos by The Successful Musician Visit The Successful Musician podcast website at The Successful Musician + YouTube - + Instagram - + Facebook - + Twitter - Thank you for listening, Terry Carter /episode/index/show/thesuccessfulmusician/id/6654502

Hearing My Music On MTV 05/07/2018

Hearing My Music On MTV In this podcast I'll discuss how and when I got my first composition on MTV. Around the time I was graduating from the University of Southern California with my Master of Music in Studio/Jazz Guitar, I was working around Los Angeles as a professional musician. One of the things I wanted to get into more than anything was studio recording work. At the time I was mainly playing guitar but I was also working up my skills as a lap steel, dobro, banjo, and mandolin player. I was also studying country guitar with the great Steve Trovato and loving anything that had twang, like Johnny Cash, Jerry Reed, Albert Lee, Chet Atkins, Roy Clark, Buck Owens, and Les Paul. I was doing any kind of recording sessions you can imagine. Some in big time studios and some literally in people's bedroom studios. I just wanted to get experience recording. One day I answered an ad on Craigslist from a songwriter named Chris Frame who was looking for a multi-instrumentalist to play on 4 of his songs for his upcoming album. I remember my first day I went to his studio, also a bedroom studio, but he had all the professional gear, including one of the first Pro Tools systems called the 888. Since I didn't know what to expect I took every instrument I could fit in my car including a Gibson ES-335 (which was a recent birthday present from my wife), a Fender Telecaster, a Recording King Lap Steel, and a Dobro and Banjo I got from my grandpa. Chris and I hit it off right away. Our personalities, style in music, and work ethic were very similar and our friendship began. We spent the next few days recording for his album, which was a mix of country, rock, and southern rock. We did lead guitar, banjo, lap steel, and even a little mandolin. Although Chris was a very demanding producer, he was also very talented musician, songwriter, and could work Pro Tools better than anyone I had ever seen. Around this time I found a guy on Craigslist that was the music supervisor for MTV and he was looking for some tracks to place in some of their shows. I had always wanted to write tracks for TV and since Chris and I were done with the album I suggested that we do a few and submit them and see what happens. Chris was excited about the idea and was ready to get started. The process is that first the music supervisor gave us some popular radio songs and told us to "copy" them. When I say copy, it's really more of make them sound like these songs but don't infringe of the original artists copy write. This is a very standard procedure in the film and TV world. Some of the bands he wanted us to sound like were The Killers and Weezer. The way Chris and I worked was that I would go and listen to the songs, and write chord progressions that sounded like the original tracks. In the studio Chris would help with the arrangement and then program the drums and play the bass. After I would lay down the guitar parts, we would add any keys or special sound effects, mix it and it was done. The energy was really flowing and we did 10 tracks in the matter of a few days. We submitted them to our MTV guy and waited. A few weeks later I got an email from the guy saying that we placed one of our tracks on an MTV show called Wild Boyz. Wild Boyz is a "Jackass" style show that featured Steve O and friends in different parts of the world doing stupid stuff. Anyway, he says that the show will air on a Wednesday night. I set up my TIVO during band rehearsal that night so we wouldn't miss it. We both forgot about the show and after rehearsal Chris started to drive home to Santa Monica. When I went to my house I remembered that I had recorded the episode of Wild Boyz. I sat anxiously watching the show waiting for the familiar sound of one of our songs. Sure enough during the middle of the episode I hear one of the tracks that Chris and I wrote. It was so cool that I got goose bumps hearing my music on TV. I immediately called Chris and he got so excited he turned around and drove back to my house. We must have watched it over and over again, sitting there smiling like two school kids. It was an awesome feeling. This began a long string of tracks that we got placed on MTV, but also lead to music that I have written for Scorpion (CBS), Pitbulls and Parolees (Animal Planet), PUMA, and even a theme for a professional hockey team. All the music you hear in this video are tracks that Chris and I wrote. The picture in the middle of the video is The Chris Frame Band taken at my studio Carter's Coyote Pass Studios. Chris is the tall guy on the right and I'm the cool guy with the dogs. See more motivational videos by The Successful Musician https://bit.ly/2v1hjd1 Visit The Successful Musician podcast website at http://www.thesuccessfulmusician.com The Successful Musician + YouTube - http://www.youtube.com/thesuccessfulmusician + Instagram - http://www.instagram.com/thesuccessfulmusician + Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/thesuccessfulmusician + Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/successfulmus /episode/index/show/thesuccessfulmusician/id/6563553

Help Others | Jealousy | Tim McGraw Inspirational 04/23/2018

Help Others | Jealousy | Tim McGraw Inspirational In this episode we will discuss 2 topics, reaching back to help others out and jealousy. We will look at Tim McGraw for some examples and inspiration. http://www.thesuccessfulmusician.com Tim McGraw is one of the greatest singers and performers of country music. He is also a dedicated husband and father. After dropping out of college he moved to Nashville with dreams of becoming a huge country star. During his time as a struggling musician, playing clubs and writing songs he meets a young Jo Dee Messina. Tim eventually gets a record deal with Curb Records and releases his first few albums. His first album failed to reach the success he was hoping but both his second and his third album went platinum. Now that Tim has some power and money due to the success of his albums he decided to reach back and help his friend, Jo Dee Messina. He tells her that he is willing fund and co-produce her first album. Here is an artist that has sold over 40 million records has the empathy to reach back and pulling his friends up. This concept of reaching back and pulling someone else out, is describe well in this Denzel Washington commencement speech, https://youtu.be/BxY_eJLBflk We all can do this right now. Reach back and help someone else out that doesn’t have as much money, food, or talent as you. Maybe you can help someone out with lessons or just simply donating your time. Jo Dee Messina credits Tim McGraw for her success and claims that she wouldn’t have a career if it wasn’t for Tim. The second topic I want to discuss is jealously. This is something we all struggle with especially as artists. For example, maybe a friend of yours gets a record deal or places a song on a TV or their band goes on tour. Because this may be something that we want for ourselves we get jealous over their success. What if we flipped our thinking? What if we are genuinely happy and excited for their accomplishments? We should encourage our friends success because in order for us to be successful we have to hang around successful people. If your friend becomes successful, you have now gained another successfully person in your life to help you along your journey. We are a collection of the 5 people that we hang out with the most. So if you hang out with losers, chances are you will be a loser also. But if you hang around successfully people then there is more likely hood that you will be successful. Plus, this friend of yours that is now on tour they may ask you to come play on stage with them, write a song with them, or refer your name to someone else. Although fighting jealousy can be something that is a struggle for us to overcome, it can be done by simply flipping the way we think of it. Always remembers that the success of your friends or people around you will only help you in the long run. To recap, always reach back and help someone else out and stop being jealous of others. Visit The Successful Musician podcast website at + YouTube - + Instagram - + Facebook - + Twitter - Music by Per Kjeller /episode/index/show/thesuccessfulmusician/id/6510376

Overnight Success | Van Halen 04/13/2018

Overnight Success | Van Halen This Van Halen motivational 4K video is about the myth of overnight success. There is no overnight success. When you think someone has overnight success and you go back and look at them, they had a long working struggle to make it. No band or artists pops out of nowhere to make it. You don't want overnight success. To make it, you need that struggle and to climb up step by step. If you get there too quick, you will fall just as quick. We are going to look at Van Halen as our example of “overnight success.” Van Halen has sold over 100 million albums, it didn’t just happen for them. It was a grind and struggle to make it. I'm talking about the original Van Halen lineup of Eddie Van Halen on guitar, Alex Van Halen on drums, David Lee Roth on vocals, and Michael Anthony on bass. Originally Alex played guitar and Eddie played drums, but they soon realized that they needed to switch instruments. Guitar came to Eddie quickly and easily. After school while most kids were out playing, Eddie and Alex would go home to practice music. In 1971 Eddie and Alex formed the band, The Trojan Rubber Company. This was before Roth and Anthony joined the band. They would play backyard parties and schools playing covers of Cream, Aerosmith, and Black Sabbath. Eddie would sit there for hours trying to emulate Clapton. Eddie said that Clapton was the only guitar player that ever really “touched him.” A year later they changed the band name to Genesis, with Mark Stone on bass. They soon learned that about real band called, Genesis, and they changed name to Mammoth. David Lee Roth had a band called, Red Ball Jet. Roth’s uncle owned Cafe Wha in New York and Roth saw and was influenced by greats such as Jimi Hendrix and Bob Dylan. One summer, Mammoth and Red Ball Jet played against each other at a Battle of the Bands in Hamilton Park, Pasadena. After their PA blew up, Mammoth use to rent a PA from Roth. During this time Eddie played guitar and was the lead vocalist. Eddie and Alex realized that even though they loved 3 piece bands like Cream and the Jimi Hendrix Experience, bands like Led Zeppelin and The Rolling Stones were gaining more success with a lead singer. Eventually they asked Roth to join the band because they needed a lead singer and so they wouldn’t have to rent his PA anymore. After joining the band Roth suggested changing name to Van Halen. In 1974 Van Halen started playing in Hollywood and got a residency at “Gazzarris.” In the meantime Michael Anthony was going to Pasadena College and in a band called “Snake.” Van Halen met Michael Anthony when both bands played at Pasadena High School. Again Van Halen’s PA blew up and Michael Anthony let them use his. They thought Anthony was great and asked him to join the band. Van Halen played tons of clubs including the Starwood, Whiskey, and Troubadour and began to mix in more of their own material. They rehearsed everyday and played 4 nights a week. “Set your own goals to work your ass off, all the time, every time” - David Lee Roth One night at the Starwood Gene Simmons saw them and helped them record a 13 song demo in New York. Due to the success of Kiss, Simmons believed he could get Van Halen a record deal. Although Simmons didn’t get them a deal he did get the demo in the hands of Marshall Borough, which later became their first manager. Van Halen signed a record deal with Warner Bros in May 1977. On February 10th, 1978 - Van Halen I was released. The album went platinum within a few months and sold over 2 million copies. The album included such great songs as Runnin’ With The Devil, Eruption, and You Really Got Me. On their first tour they opened for Journey. Next they toured with Black Sabbath in England. Ozzy said Van Halen blew Sabbath off stage every night Van Halen II was released on March 23rd, 1979, followed by Woman and Children First in 1980, Fair Warning in 1981, and Diver Down in 1982. In 1982 Eddie played the guitar solo on Michael Jackson’s “Beat It.” In 1983, Van Halen headlined the US festival, masterminded by Steve Wozniak, which included other bands like The Clash, David Bowie, Stevie Nicks, Stray Cats, Pretenders, and U2. Van Halen got $1.5 million for 1 hour 55 minutes = $13,000 a minute (Genis Book of World Record) In 1984 they released their last album with the original lineup, 1984. The album was recorded at Eddie’s 5150 Studios, went #2 on the charts, and had a #1 hit with the song, Jump. David Lee Roth soon left the band to pursue his solo career and Van Halen continued with a few other singers, most notably, Sammy Hagar. Visit The Successful Musician podcast website at http://www.thesuccessfulmusician.com + YouTube - https://bit.ly/2GZVDiG + Instagram - http://www.instagram.com/thesuccessfulmusician + Facebook - http://www.facebook.com/thesuccessfulmusician + Twitter - http://www.twitter.com/successfulmus Music by Per Kjeller http://www.perkjellermusic.com /episode/index/show/thesuccessfulmusician/id/6478574

Go Outside The Box | Bob Dylan Goes Electric 04/06/2018

Go Outside The Box | Bob Dylan Goes Electric Today I want to talk to you about going outside the box. Too many times we follow the same path that everyone else is doing now or in the past. It's time to blaze your own trail, do something different, take chances and be bold. I want to use Bob Dylan for our example today. Imagine it’s 1965 we're in the middle of the Vietnam War, there's a lot of turmoil in the country (US), and you got Bob Dylan, the leading songwriter in the folk style. People looked up to him, the kids looked up to him, and he’s singing about political and social issues. When I'm talking about folk music, I’m talking about acoustic guitar, harmonica, and singing. His lyrics, his style, and his songs touched people. He was on top of the world, he had successful songs like “The Times They Are A-Changin.” Do you think he should play it safe and and just keep doing the same thing? Guess what he didn’t. Come Sunday July 25th 1965, the Newport Folk Festival, he does something completely different. Matter of fact what he does gets people to boo him. He was ready for a change, people like Dylan always want to expand and do something different. People want to put others in a box and when this happens you're somewhat limited. You want to get out of that box and do other things and explore other avenues. For the festival Dylan got Mike Bloomfield on guitar and some of the members of the Paul Butterfield Band. Imagine a Folk Festival where people sitting around drinking wine and eating cheese, and Dylan comes out and electrifies them. Dylan is playing electric guitar, Mike Bloomfield is ripping Blues licks behind him, and the band is loud and a little over driven. Dylan blows people away. He plays 3 songs, “Maggie's Farm”, “Like a Rolling Stone” which was just released, and “Phantom Engineer.” People booed him. His loyal fans, people who looked up to him like a hero, boo him after the performance. Why is this? They couldn't handle what he did. They couldn't handle him changing it up, doing something different. They expected him to be this, but he wanted to be this over here. He took a big chance. Whenever you're getting comfortable and your feeling some success and you feel like things are going well, making a change is risky. You have to be bold at that time but that's exactly the time to do it. Don't let people get too comfortable with who you are or what you're doing. By doing this Dylan opened up this new world. Now instead of just being Bob Dylan, the folk singer, now it’s Bob Dylan the folk rock or the rock singer. This is cool because not only did he open up his world to new avenues, and yes he probably lost some fans along the way, but he broke outside of that box. There is a great video on Denzel Washington, he’s given a commencement speech at a college and he talks about the old IQ test, it’s 9 dots. You had to draw 5 lines through 9 dots without lifting the pencil. The only way to do it is to go outside the box. Don't get trapped doing the same thing over and over again, change it up on people, and keep people guessing. It’s just the way that you're going to progress and move forward, and you're actually going to grow. Your going to gain new audiences and expose yourself to new people. Yeah some of the people who like you the way you are, they may talk bad, they may even boo you, but you got to keep changing, you got to be bold, and you got to go outside of the box Visit The Successful Musician podcast website at YouTube - Instagram- Facebook - Twitter - Music by Per Kjeller /episode/index/show/thesuccessfulmusician/id/6452581

Talent Is A Given | Tom Brady Motivation 04/02/2018

Talent Is A Given | Tom Brady Motivation Everyone has talent, you can’t make it as a musician or in any profession if you don’t have talent. At some point you will realize that everyone is so good. What separates the legendary people versus the average people? That’s what we are going to discuss today. We are going to examine the professional career of NFL quarterback Tom Brady of the New England Patriots. Nothing has been handed to him and has gone from someone that no one believed in to the most successful quarterback in NFL history. There are 3 things that stand out about Tom Brady that separates him from all the other quarterbacks that play or have played professional football. 1. Heart 2. Hard Work 3. Taking advantage of opportunities Even his coach for the Patriots, Bill Belichick, says Tom Brady doesn’t have a lot of natural talent, but he has great instincts, and takes advantage of every opportunity that’s given to him. He works hard and finds a way to win. Brady was drafted into the NFL in 2000, he was the 199th pick. That means that there were 198 football players selected before him. That was also the 6th round of the draft and there were 6 quarterbacks taken before him. Even the New England Patriots selected 5 other players before they drafted Tom. Nobody believed that Brady was going to become anything special in the league. What did Tom Brady achieve? (as of this 2018 video) - 5 NFL Super Bowl Championships - 4 Super Bowl MVP’s - 3 League MVP’s (was 40 years old when he won it in 2018) How did he do it? 1. Heart - when no one else believes in you, you have to believe in yourself. You have to put people’s opinions behind you and take that frustration and anger and apply it to you work ethic. Apply it to how you think and how your going to get better every single day. 2. Take advantage of your opportunities - In 2001, Brady’s 2nd year, starting quarterback Drew Bledsoe goes out for the season with an injury. This was Tom’s change to step up and become a leader. He not only has a successful season but he leads the Patriots to the Super Bowl and wins. - How did do this? He had to be ready, he had to prepared, he had to put the work in beforehand and be ready when his number was called. - People are given opportunities in this world all the time but many of them are not ready, they are not prepared physically or mentally. These people you never hear about. - How do Brady get prepared? Day in and day out grinding, learning, watching film, and always getting better. - How are you taking care of your body and mind? What’s your routine, are you getting enough sleep, are you eating right, are you exercising properly and doing the things necessary for your body? - What are you doing for your mind? How are you growing, how are you getting stronger? You have to have a powerful mindset that keeps you going every single day. 3. Work Ethic - This is what separates the talented from the legendary. There will always be someone younger then you and better than you. The way to overcome this is to up work your competition. You may have to stay up all night, you have to learn, you have to watch videos, you have to get mentors, and grow everyday. You can't control others but you can control is how hard you work. Everyone has talent, the person that is going to become legendary is the one that works the hardest. Think Tom Brady, think 199. Get Tom Brady's new book TB12 https://amzn.to/2JcjPQD Visit The Successful Musician podcast website at www.thesuccessfulmusician.com + instagram.com/thesuccessfulmusician + facebook.com/thesuccessfulmusician + twitter.com/successfulmus Music by Per Kjeller www.perkjellermusic.com /episode/index/show/thesuccessfulmusician/id/6433375

Small Wins and Gratitude 03/30/2018

Small Wins and Gratitude Be thankful and give yourself small wins. I was inspired by Les Brown when he said, “Be gentle with yourself.” I know for me in the past I have always been very critical of myself. No matter how well I did something I seemed to look at what went wrong or what I could I have done better. Although self-analyzation after a performance is good, does it come before or after you pat yourself on the back and say “good job?” I would guess that you are just like me and tend to beat yourself up mentally if things don’t go perfect. And guess what, they never go perfect. We are not perfect. Think about the last time you did something such as played a gig, gave a speech at school, gave a presentation at work, or played a game. How did you do? I bet it wasn’t perfect. I bet that no matter how much you rehearsed it didn’t go exactly like it did when you were practicing at home. This is typical of everyone. Although they say practice makes perfect, it’s not always true. There are too many variables and possibilities of things going wrong when we are doing something in front of a live audience. I will that the more you practice and get your mindset right, you increase the likelihood that you will perform better and deal with variables, but rarely will you be perfect. The greatest batter in the history of baseball, Ted Williams, had a batting average of 400 during his greatest season. That means he only got a hit 4 out of every 10 times he was up at the plate. Next question, after your performance was over, how did you handle it? I’m sure you were relieved that is was over but what was the first thing you said to yourself? Did you give yourself credit for working hard and doing your best” or was it “I made a mistake here or I could have done this or that better?” Do you get down on yourself? For me I use to focus on the negatives, the mistakes or the short comings. But this has been something I have been working hard to overcome and here is a personal story on how I have worked on it. Every morning when I go out for my jog, I time myself. I like to track my results to see how I’m doing and if I’m improving. I realized that a majority of the time, if I didn’t beat my fastest time ever I would get down on myself about why I was running so slow. I wouldn’t take into account anything positive but just focus on the negative. It wasn’t until one day, I felt really good running but when I finished I didn’t beat my best time. My first reaction was disappointment and I was really hard on myself for not performing better. 15 minutes later when I was writing down my time and comparing it to previous times, I noticed that my time was the 3rd fastest that I ever ran sinceI had been tracking my progress. I realized how critical I had been being on myself. Here I am out running at 5 am, in the dark, pushing myself when nobody else is around and I’m getting down on myself. It didn’t make sense and I began to ask myself, what’s wrong with this picture? I realized I needed to adjust my mindset and focus on some positive or small wins. From that moment on, no matter what my time is, I’m going to be happy with myself. And not just happy but completely stoked and excited, even if it’s just for getting out and doing it. This has made me much happier in my life. All I had to do was to simply shift my mindset and interrupt an event in a positive way rather than in a negative way. Now as you look back at your day you should be able to find at least 3-5 things that you did well and can tell yourself good job. This small win can be anything like you practiced hard today, You focused when you studied, did a great job at work, were a loving and caring parent or just were friendly to people you met. Take some credit for those things and be gentle on yourself. Here’s something I do that will help you. Everynight when I get into bed, I get out a journal I keep on my bedside table. I have to use the light on my flashlight as my wife is usually asleep but I write down 3 things I did well that day. No matter how bad I may perceive how my day went, I always find 3 things to write. Next I write 3 things that I am thankful for. These can be anything at all that you have gratitude for, your spouse, kids, parents, health, wealth, energy, opportunities, peace, love, wisdom, humility. Remember the day is over, no matter what happened I will guarantee that you did at least 3 things well and you have 3 things you are grateful for. This will help you close the day and have powerful positive dreams. Remember that tomorrow is a new day, a day to reset and refocus, but always remember to give yourself small wins. Visit The Successful Musician podcast website at www.thesuccessfulmusician.com + instagram.com/thesuccessfulmusician + facebook.com/thesuccessfulmusician + twitter.com/successfulmus /episode/index/show/thesuccessfulmusician/id/6425095

Live In The Present Moment 03/26/2018

Make A Decision - There Is No Plan B 03/26/2018

Make A Decision - There Is No Plan B There is a great quote from Will Smith that says, there is no plan B, that having a plan B only distracts from plan A. As I look back at my musical career I realize that this is the exact mindset that I have had. Being a musician is a difficult career path, there is lots of competition and it's not the steady 9-5 job that a majority of people settle for. My love for music really began to blossom as a teenager when I got my first guitar and was hooked on guitar players like Eddie Van Halen and Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin My dad also had a big influence on me as I was constantly surrounded by great classic rock music by bands such as The Doobie Brothers, Neil Diamond, Supertramp, Bob Seger, and The Rolling Stones. After my career as a baseball player ended I made the commitment that I was going to dedicate my life to music. This lead me to studying music at the local community college, then to an undergraduate degree from San Diego State University, and then a teaching assistant position at the University of Southern California where I got my Master of Music in Studio/Jazz Guitar. After school I sent 15 years in Los Angeles as a working musician. In order to keep my dream alive as a musician I worked in a diverse amount of settings that included playing in original and cover bands, studio and touring work, composer of music for TV and film, and playing a wide variety of instruments including guitar, ukulele, singing, banjo, pedal steel, mandolin and drums. I also was a producer, written and published guitar and ukulele books, and run education website teaching people how to play guitar and ukulele. I have been very fortunate to work with some great artists such as Weezer, Josh Groban, Christopher Tin, Robbie Krieger, and the Los Angeles Philharmonic. I also have a passion and dedication to education and helping people learn the craft of music. Even though I have achieved a lot of success in my career it was never an easy ride. I had to do whatever it took to make my dreams a reality. Although at times I felt like it would be easier if I settled and took a more "steady" or "traditional" job like becoming a lawyer or contractor, I never did because I knew that it would take away or even kill my career. I even got very close a few times at getting a full time college teaching job, although I was disappointed at the time, I realized that if I had those jobs they would have taken away from the many opportunities that came my way. What do you have to do? The first thing you have to do is find out what you are passionate about. The second thing is that you have to decide and make the decision that this is what you are going to do with your life. Third, you have to put all your heart and soul into it and never look back. Visit The Successful Musician website at + + + /episode/index/show/thesuccessfulmusician/id/6407652

Develop A Successful Mindset 03/25/2018

Terry Carter

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