Dead-ends

Are not always dead...

Something often overlooked in the creation of art is how valuable dead-ends and frustrating bang-your-head-against-the-wall sessions are. I've found this to be true in martial arts as well as music. Last night I spent what I was sure were two or three totally wasted hours trying trying trying to make a couple of new songs work out. Just pissed me off and I put my guitar down in utter disgust. Tonight I tried again and with just a few tries they both were greatly improved and ready to be played out. I trace this directly to last night's session. It did something. I'm not sure what, but tonight would not have happened if not for last night...I would never counsel anyone to "never give up". That's just dumb. There are all kinds of times when giving up is exactly the right thing to do. But I would say, If you're on the trail of something and you're pretty sure it's out there, persist.