The Difference Between Being Good And Being Great

i actually picked up this tip from movie director/comedian Kevin Smith. The truth is many people spend their entire lives catching up while some are always ahead of the curve.  I see the following as great advice for musicians, but it applies to everyone.

Smith was talking about why a movie of his that was expected to be big, didn't do well.  He pretty much blamed it on shooting for the status quo.  He then used this Wayne Gretzky quote:

A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be-Wayne Gretzky's advice from his father.

I see this problem time and time with musicians. A scene takes off and they try to latch on. For instance when Stevie Ray took off, every guitar slinger in the world headed to Austin. When they go there they found out that Stevie already existed, and there wasn't really a need for too many more Stevies. In other words, if your band sounds like "Cannibal Corpse meets Avenged Sevenfold", then you're already too late. You have to sound like somebody who is BEYOND those two if you're ever going to reach the next level.

It's the same thing with any profession.  You can design three bedroom houses that are good all day, but what are you going to do to design the three bedroom house for the next generation? Meaning, will it have Wi-Fi through the house, will it be power efficient, or will it have whatever amenities that the next generation may want in a house? Think about it, at some point in history some people were still building houses with outhouses while a few others said, "eureka-plumbing is the next big thing!".

We use this same practice at Nightmare On 19th Street and it has worked very well for us.  We aren't thinking about 2015 or even 2016 anymore. We've already got a half dozen ideas for 2017.   We are already planning on the next big thing so we can be there when everybody else catches up.

So there you have it, if you're up with current trends you can be good, but if you start thinking about what's next, you can be great.