Marco Rodi

You know the crappy sentence: “To succeed, you need to be in the right place at the right time…” I never believed in that. I think it’s for some lazy people who just give themselves some excuses why they didn’t ”made it” or why they say they are not successful in life. I think that to succeed, you ONLY have to in the right place while doing something you are enthusiastic about. That’s all. Do what you love to do in the environment you want to. Even if you do something you LOVE in a wrong environment it wont work. Here are few examples:

Mozart loved to play piano. But imagine if he was the background piano player in a huge orchestra.
Bill Gates is a pure software genius. But what if he worked as a software developer for a huge company?
Jimi Hendrix revolutionized the guitar by playing his solo experimental stuff. But what if he stayed in some wedding bands to make some cash?
Donald Trump is one of the most recognized business man in the world. But what if he worked some 9 to 5 shift in a business company?
Isaac Newton found the theory of gravity while watching an apple fall from a tree. He loved nature and resting outside to find new physics and mathematical theories. What if he worked in some caves to make some money?

These examples are just a way to illustrate my thinking. They just went into places/environment that they were able to shine. It’s not destiny, it’s not being at the right time… it’s just doing what you love to do IN THE RIGHT PLACE.

Even if you are a genius, if you are incredibly smart, if you are a really intelligent person, you have to search for the right place if not it will be hard or impossible to shine your purest talent.

For all of you bass/guitar players. You all love to play your instrument. But there are sometimes that when you play with other people, you just don’t feel at the right place. You don’t feel the energy, the groove. You need to change place and find your own environment.

So that’s what I think. Do what you love to do the most, in a place that makes you comfortable and TIME WILL COME BY ITSELF.

I’ll leave you with one of my favorite quotes:

“By working faithfully eight hours a day, you may eventually get to be a boss and work twelve hours a day.”, Robert Frost – American poet

—-
The story is told that great scientist Einstein was once asked how many feet are in a mile. Einstein reply was: “I don’t know. Why should I fill my brain with facts I can find in two minutes in any standard reference book?”

from the book The Magic Of Thinking Big by excellent autor David. Schwartz PHD
—-

Man, Einstein explains it all. Finally I know how to answer to all the people who ask me: “What are some tips you can give me, how did you learn how to slap? How can I learn to TAP like you? “. Looking back now, when I was like 16-19 years old, I was ONLY practicing ESSENTIAL stuff on the bass. I only filled my mind with stuff I REALLY WANTED TO LEARN DEADLY. Stuff that I was enthusiastic about: Slapping, Improvisation and tapping technique. THAT’S ALL. I didn’t care about metronome, chords, musical theory, scales, modes, etc.

I only did the stuff that I WANTED to learn real bad. Only the stuff that excited me the most. Why fill my brain with useless stuff? Because every other musicians are doing it? Because my teacher wanted me to do it? Because that what ”Musical Training” is all about?

Do I have to play like a robot? No. So why would I use a metronome? To get some groove? Well I can just listen to a cd and learn the real feel of the song.

Do I have to learn all the modes and scales to become good? No. Just the essential to be able to play what I feel like. If I REALLY WANT to be able to solo in D, THEN I can learn all the ways of doing it.

Do I have to learn musical theory? No. Except if I’m REALLY interested to do so. If I’m really passionate about.

If you are practicing your instrument, and your teacher gave you 9 scales to learn on your metronome at 100bpm. How can someone be excited about this? I find more exciting watching your idols play on videos, analyze their technique, play on top of Cd’s, find new bass lines on existing songs, Learn how to Slap like Flea, Wooten, Stuart Hamm, THEN, mix all of their technique into YOUR OWN STYLE…

Dudes, don’t fill your brain with stuff you DON’T HAVE TO. You are loosing time, excitement, and bass practicing. ONLY do what excites you. You will learn A LOT faster trust me

Thank you Einstein!

Hello Everybody!

There is an online contest called ”Open Web Awards” where you can all vote for the ”Best Musical Artist To Follow”.

If you have the time, just click this link and vote for me!

Thank you so much for your incredible support for everything!

Have a nice day!

I have this sentence stuck in my mind for a while. I don’t know where I got it, it’s from a book I read in the past few weeks. It is so true. Let’s see you are a full time student, you have a job to pay your student fee but your main passion is music. You are always busy studying and/or working, you have only little time for your passion… You can’t go out with friends, you can’t spend time with your family because you are busy. But if you think about it, you are only busy doing safe stuff. Stuff that the majority of people are doing… Stuff that throws you in the normal society.

Being productive means working on stuff you love. Stuff that excites you. Stuff that you don’t are if this is going to brings you money or not. Stuff that you admire people that succeeded doing that. Stuff that while doing it, you don’t see the time pass, or you don’t even think about it, you are just doing it.

True masters are people who succeeded doing that kind of stuff in their regular life. In my personal opinion, I believe that most of these people are incredibly happy.

I have a lot of projects going on: School, Work, my band, solo bass, iphone coding, website… i love all these things… But if you think about it in a ”futuristic way”.

School will bring you a diploma at the end. Why? to have a good job. so WORK.
Work is bringing you money at the end.
Personal projects will bring you happiness, knowledge, fun, excitement, wisdom, lessons and if you are lucky, MONEY.

The hardest option to succeed is off course, your personal projects. Anybody can succeed at school if you study well and if you attend your class. Anybody can have a good pay job. But not many people are risking all this to succeed into their personal projects…