Lessons from the mouth of a Rolling Stone

Part 5

By John Miller

4.  But, what about those music lessons?

For any musicians, or music fans who have made it this far in the article, thank you for hanging in! Darryl and I did talk some about music, in fact we talked mostly about music, and about human rights, something he is very passionate about.

Musically: first off, apply number one above; learn to be as good as you can be on your instrument, and never stop learning. Darryl could not have been more strong in his opinion that you must “Listen, listen listen to your bandmates.”  This part of our conversation was the closest of all to anything relating to the Rolling Stones. Darryl said that one thing that they do particularly well is to listen to each other, and for him, he especially listens to Charlie Watts drumming and Keith Richards rhythm guitar parts.

-Show up to every audition and performance fully prepared.  Isn't it beautiful in an odd way to know that someone as successful as Darryl Jones has that moment in his life that he can turn to where he learned a hard lesson? Can't you see him in the car, probably looking down at his feet, while his mother read him the riot act that he had better never show up unprepared again. To the best of my knowledge he has not.  At the end of our meal, Darryl asked me if our family had VIP tickets for the next night, and I told him no, but that we had tickets. He quickly sent a text but said “I don't know if I'll see you before the gig because I spend that time getting into the right headspace.” How often in this life do we charge forward without making sure that we are in the right headspace?  Preparation.

-From our conversation I also gleaned the following lesson from Darryl:  Know the material, play it out, and then after you are fully comfortable in the grooves and changes, add your personality/interpretation based on what your bandmates are doing.