WEBVTT - What’s the best guitar for beginners? 0:00:01.440 --> 0:00:05.040 What's up everybody. Welcome to the Granger Smith Podcast. Thank 0:00:05.080 --> 0:00:08.520 you for watching and listening. So much stuff going on 0:00:08.600 --> 0:00:13.160 here at the EE Farm. We have a truck giveaway. 0:00:13.800 --> 0:00:17.080 My truck we're going to give away to one of you. 0:00:17.400 --> 0:00:21.400 I'm going to announce that on October thirtieth. See today's 0:00:21.440 --> 0:00:23.720 the twenty third. As I record this, we're announcing on 0:00:23.720 --> 0:00:27.200 October thirtieth. All the details exactly how to do it, 0:00:27.360 --> 0:00:30.520 how you could be qualified to do it, and how 0:00:30.520 --> 0:00:34.760 you could actually win this truck right here with me 0:00:35.479 --> 0:00:38.360 at the EEE Farm. And maybe now that I think 0:00:38.360 --> 0:00:41.160 about it, maybe we should bring that winner right here 0:00:41.159 --> 0:00:45.680 to this room and get on the podcast. That'd be 0:00:45.680 --> 0:00:48.680 pretty cool. We have a new album coming out. We 0:00:48.880 --> 0:00:51.880 just released Country Things Volume one. We have Country Things 0:00:52.360 --> 0:00:56.000 Volume two coming out November twenty seventh, so I'm going 0:00:56.080 --> 0:00:57.959 to be talking about that. That will be the completion 0:00:58.440 --> 0:01:02.040 to Volume one, sixteen songs total if you add up 0:01:02.080 --> 0:01:05.320 Volume one and Volume two. We're gonna have the physical copy, 0:01:05.360 --> 0:01:08.560 which is going to be CD and vinyl. So all 0:01:08.640 --> 0:01:12.360 that's coming out on If you can't remember November twenty seventh, 0:01:12.480 --> 0:01:16.520 remember Black Friday is when this is going down and 0:01:16.560 --> 0:01:20.520 that's also the same time, within a few days that 0:01:20.600 --> 0:01:24.600 we give away the truck, all that will be cleared up. 0:01:25.040 --> 0:01:28.319 You could follow this stuff right here on this YouTube page. 0:01:28.680 --> 0:01:31.880 We will be putting out videos not only of the 0:01:34.080 --> 0:01:36.920 information on how you could win that truck, but how 0:01:36.920 --> 0:01:41.160 we're upgrading that Silverado pickup truck. And I'm also going 0:01:41.200 --> 0:01:44.480 to be teasing a lot of these songs. So other 0:01:44.480 --> 0:01:46.400 ways you could follow me. You can follow me on 0:01:46.480 --> 0:01:48.280 cameo dot com. If you want to get like a 0:01:48.320 --> 0:01:51.920 birthday shout out or happy anniversary or a little pep 0:01:51.960 --> 0:01:54.760 talk or whatever, you can find me on cameo dot 0:01:54.800 --> 0:01:57.400 com and I could shoot you a message. It's super simple. 0:01:57.640 --> 0:01:59.640 It's a video message I could send you. You could 0:01:59.640 --> 0:02:04.120 follow on ye nation dot com. This is a exclusive 0:02:04.600 --> 0:02:08.800 fan club that we started. It's brand new. Anything that 0:02:08.880 --> 0:02:10.880 I feel is super exclusive that I don't want to 0:02:10.919 --> 0:02:14.400 tell everybody all at once, I'm putting on ye nation 0:02:14.480 --> 0:02:16.840 dot com. So go check that website out, and then 0:02:16.919 --> 0:02:21.040 everything else, ye Apparel, everything we have going on, all 0:02:21.080 --> 0:02:25.079 the stuff we got cooking is on yee dot com. 0:02:25.200 --> 0:02:28.560 So there's a lot of dot coms and all this stuff. 0:02:29.200 --> 0:02:31.680 If you can't tell I have had so much dagam 0:02:31.880 --> 0:02:34.280 iced tea. I'm completely hopped up on iced ta and 0:02:34.320 --> 0:02:37.200 I'm gonna finish this. I'm gonna go film some Earldibbles Junior, 0:02:37.200 --> 0:02:38.840 dip them and pick them, and then I'm gonna go 0:02:38.919 --> 0:02:41.920 right across over here to the EE garage and work 0:02:41.960 --> 0:02:44.720 on Earldibbles old truck that I'm doing with Butch and Bull. 0:02:44.760 --> 0:02:47.840 We're building this truck from scratch. We took it down 0:02:48.040 --> 0:02:49.680 all the way to the frame and we're building it 0:02:49.720 --> 0:02:52.600 all the way back up. It's it's been such a 0:02:52.639 --> 0:02:55.120 fun series that we're putting out on YouTube. I think 0:02:55.120 --> 0:02:59.239 we're like we're into like part sixteen on this series 0:02:59.280 --> 0:03:03.040 building this truck. So so much fun stuff going on, 0:03:03.720 --> 0:03:07.160 and I'm glad that you guys joined me on this 0:03:07.240 --> 0:03:10.000 podcast this morning. I want to talk about something that 0:03:10.040 --> 0:03:13.120 I get asked a lot, and I think it's it's 0:03:13.200 --> 0:03:16.600 finally time to really get into detail about it. But 0:03:16.600 --> 0:03:18.760 decy is what if you want to learn guitar? What 0:03:18.840 --> 0:03:22.720 if you want to learn guitar? And it seems overwhelming 0:03:23.280 --> 0:03:26.000 on how in the world you even know where to 0:03:26.080 --> 0:03:28.200 buy a guitar or how to learn or what how 0:03:28.240 --> 0:03:31.079 do you how do you get started if you want 0:03:31.120 --> 0:03:33.600 to play guitar, and I could give you my best 0:03:33.600 --> 0:03:37.400 advice on that. I could tell you what I've done 0:03:37.840 --> 0:03:40.000 and what I did to learn guitar at the time, 0:03:40.040 --> 0:03:42.480 and I think it worked for me and I think 0:03:42.480 --> 0:03:46.960 it could work for you. If anything you hear today 0:03:47.400 --> 0:03:50.800 adds value to your life in any way, I would ask, 0:03:51.280 --> 0:03:54.440 because this is free to listen to on all fourmats, 0:03:54.960 --> 0:03:58.040 I would ask that you just tell a friend and 0:03:58.240 --> 0:04:05.200 you subscribe, comment, spread the message in all these ways. 0:04:05.240 --> 0:04:07.480 I mean, just hitting that little like button right here 0:04:07.520 --> 0:04:11.040 below this page is huge to making this podcast grow. 0:04:11.760 --> 0:04:15.280 Subscribing to whatever page you're watching or listening to right 0:04:15.320 --> 0:04:18.880 now is huge to making this podcast grow. And even 0:04:18.920 --> 0:04:22.279 bigger than those two things, even bigger is telling a friend. 0:04:22.640 --> 0:04:25.159 If someone says, hey, where'd you where'd you get that from? 0:04:25.240 --> 0:04:28.560 You go? Uh, Granger Smith told me on his podcast 0:04:28.560 --> 0:04:31.520 over there, the Greater Smith Podcast, So that that that 0:04:31.640 --> 0:04:35.280 is awesome. That's my only price for you today listening 0:04:35.279 --> 0:04:37.240 to this, and I hope, I hope you can get 0:04:37.240 --> 0:04:40.240 some from it. We're gonna dig deep, We're going for 0:04:40.320 --> 0:04:43.880 it right now. Welcome to Granger Smith Podcast. Ye ye 0:05:16.120 --> 0:05:23.400 did chids in DC un times and so long line 0:05:23.480 --> 0:05:37.480 I'm fool up and down on back Ranger coage. Yeah 0:05:37.800 --> 0:05:44.960 that gation. If you're new to this podcast, I'm getting 0:05:44.960 --> 0:05:48.960 these questions from you guys at Granger Smith Podcast at 0:05:49.040 --> 0:05:51.279 gmail dot com. So if you want to ask me 0:05:52.000 --> 0:05:55.440 anything under the sun, everything is is okay to ask. 0:05:56.680 --> 0:05:59.200 If you listened listened before you could you could tell 0:05:59.200 --> 0:06:02.960 that there are three lighthearted questions. There's very deep questions. 0:06:03.040 --> 0:06:07.200 There's questions about life, there's questions about music. Whatever you have, 0:06:08.040 --> 0:06:11.440 email me Grangersmith podcast at gmail dot com. I'll read 0:06:11.480 --> 0:06:15.360 your question, include your name and where you're from. I'll 0:06:15.360 --> 0:06:17.920 read the question on the podcast and answer it the 0:06:17.920 --> 0:06:21.680 best I can, and I have them right here. I'm 0:06:21.680 --> 0:06:25.120 gonna kind of flip through so it makes it somewhat random, 0:06:25.800 --> 0:06:28.919 and go right here to Stephanie. And this question says, 0:06:29.560 --> 0:06:31.840 Hey Granger, my name is Stephanie. I'm from South Dakota. 0:06:31.839 --> 0:06:33.280 I just wanted to start off by saying I love 0:06:33.279 --> 0:06:35.800 your music and a door watching your family on the Smiths, 0:06:36.160 --> 0:06:39.080 I was wondering how you choose songs that are on 0:06:39.120 --> 0:06:41.360 the radio. What makes you think, oh, this song is 0:06:41.400 --> 0:06:43.800 going to be a great hit. Also, are there any 0:06:43.839 --> 0:06:46.120 of your older songs that, whenever you think of them, 0:06:46.200 --> 0:06:49.120 you think, Man, I wish I would have written that 0:06:49.240 --> 0:06:52.960 different or change the lyrics to this. Your song Tractor 0:06:53.040 --> 0:06:54.839 means the world to me. It was played at my 0:06:54.880 --> 0:06:58.159 grandpa's funeral and there is not a dry eye when 0:06:58.160 --> 0:07:01.520 it was played because it fit him to tea. October 0:07:01.560 --> 0:07:04.200 sixteenth will be a year since we lost him. It 0:07:04.240 --> 0:07:06.760 was an amazing He was an amazing man, and I 0:07:06.800 --> 0:07:09.200 bet that him and your dad would have had some 0:07:09.360 --> 0:07:14.000 interesting conversations. I've been struggling since he passed, but listening 0:07:14.000 --> 0:07:16.200 to you and Amber talk about lost love and faith 0:07:16.200 --> 0:07:18.760 has helped me move forward through this time and be 0:07:18.800 --> 0:07:20.800 grateful and all the time that I did get to 0:07:20.840 --> 0:07:23.360 spend with him while he was here. Thank you for 0:07:23.400 --> 0:07:26.520 being open and honest in this crazy world we live in. 0:07:27.080 --> 0:07:29.760 I cannot wait for Country Things Volume two. Ye Ye. 0:07:30.320 --> 0:07:33.160 Thank you Stephanie so much. Shout out to South Dakota. 0:07:33.240 --> 0:07:37.440 Thank you for listening to the music and watching me 0:07:37.600 --> 0:07:40.840 and my family on the Smiths on our YouTube channel. 0:07:41.680 --> 0:07:46.400 And you have a couple questions here, so I'll dive 0:07:46.440 --> 0:07:49.360 in with the first question on how a chew songs 0:07:49.360 --> 0:07:54.800 for the radio. And that's an interesting question, often misunderstood 0:07:55.280 --> 0:07:59.560 if you're not in the music business, and it's complicated, 0:08:00.160 --> 0:08:02.320 and I wish that it wasn't. And to be honest 0:08:02.320 --> 0:08:07.960 with you, Stephanie, this is the most frustrating subject in 0:08:08.000 --> 0:08:14.000 my career is country music radio songs that go to radio, 0:08:14.600 --> 0:08:20.360 what determines a single, and the possibility of skipping over 0:08:20.400 --> 0:08:23.240 the songs, or at least not talking about them as much, 0:08:23.280 --> 0:08:27.400 at least not making music videos of the songs in 0:08:27.480 --> 0:08:31.320 between the radio singles on the albums. And it's tough 0:08:31.400 --> 0:08:35.959 because you mentioned Tracter that song, just like you said, 0:08:36.000 --> 0:08:39.240 for you, that song's very special for me. I wrote 0:08:39.280 --> 0:08:42.120 it about my dad after he passed away in twenty fourteen. 0:08:42.720 --> 0:08:47.160 It was on my album Remington, and it means so 0:08:47.280 --> 0:08:49.320 much to me that actually I've only played it a 0:08:49.320 --> 0:08:52.440 few times at shows, and it's difficult for me to 0:08:52.440 --> 0:08:55.360 play that song because it was about my dad and 0:08:55.400 --> 0:09:00.400 it's so close to me, the story of him through 0:09:00.440 --> 0:09:03.760 those lyrics and through that melody. It's one of my 0:09:03.800 --> 0:09:06.080 favorite music videos we've ever done. If you haven't seen 0:09:06.120 --> 0:09:09.720 that music video, please take a look at it. Because 0:09:10.600 --> 0:09:15.200 I poured my heart into it. It's the music video 0:09:15.280 --> 0:09:20.319 kind of goes through the song itself visually and talks 0:09:20.320 --> 0:09:22.760 about my dad. And then we had to use an 0:09:22.800 --> 0:09:26.000 actor to play my dad, and so that actor I 0:09:26.040 --> 0:09:30.400 picked my dad's best friend. So these guys were inseparable. 0:09:30.440 --> 0:09:33.440 They were childhood buddies, they grew up together, they were 0:09:33.480 --> 0:09:36.000 friends all through adult life. They had children at the 0:09:36.040 --> 0:09:43.559 same time, and it was they were so close, and 0:09:43.760 --> 0:09:46.120 they dressed the same, they talked the same, they had 0:09:46.120 --> 0:09:51.040 the same interest and so being able to use Steve 0:09:52.480 --> 0:09:58.720 in the music video playing my dad makes it even 0:09:58.800 --> 0:10:03.439 more special to me, and it makes him visually, really, 0:10:03.520 --> 0:10:06.920 if you know, my family really hits home with that 0:10:07.000 --> 0:10:10.200 music video. And also my son, Lincoln is in that 0:10:10.320 --> 0:10:13.560 music video and he's a baby, and it's a really, 0:10:13.640 --> 0:10:18.199 I think, a really good tie together with Lincoln and 0:10:18.240 --> 0:10:24.080 Steve Lincoln. My son was three months old when my 0:10:24.160 --> 0:10:28.520 dad died, so my dad knew him for three months 0:10:28.880 --> 0:10:31.800 and Lincoln will never be able to remember that, and 0:10:31.840 --> 0:10:36.920 so there's an interesting tie between those two. So thank 0:10:36.920 --> 0:10:38.960 you for bringing up that song, because that's a perfect 0:10:39.200 --> 0:10:42.000 example of a song that the rest of the world, 0:10:42.600 --> 0:10:47.520 the casual country music listener probably would never hear unless 0:10:47.520 --> 0:10:50.360 you're a fan of me. But what the casual fan 0:10:50.880 --> 0:10:55.640 of country music would here is my radio singles. And 0:10:55.880 --> 0:11:00.320 I've had a handful of independent, really independently, really least 0:11:00.400 --> 0:11:03.959 radio singles that I put out in regional radio when 0:11:04.000 --> 0:11:08.520 I lived when I was just marketing to the state 0:11:08.520 --> 0:11:11.520 of Texas and Oklahoma. And then I have a handful 0:11:11.640 --> 0:11:16.080 of songs that we worked at national radio, starting with 0:11:16.840 --> 0:11:19.520 back Road Song in twenty fifteen. That was my first 0:11:19.640 --> 0:11:23.920 national radio single. My first regional radio single was Colorblind, 0:11:25.360 --> 0:11:32.760 And one day, I promise you I will be a 0:11:32.760 --> 0:11:36.319 whistleblower on this whole process. And I've actually had dreams 0:11:36.600 --> 0:11:40.120 of being the whistleblower to the whole process because it's 0:11:41.200 --> 0:11:46.560 it's frustrating and it's devastating to the artist. But in 0:11:46.600 --> 0:11:50.280 a lot of ways, it's a necessity to try to 0:11:50.280 --> 0:11:55.800 get your music to more people, and ultimately that's you know, 0:11:55.840 --> 0:12:00.440 in a lot of ways. I can't speak for me personally, 0:12:00.440 --> 0:12:03.880 but in a lot of ways, artists have the goal 0:12:04.120 --> 0:12:08.400 of reaching more people. Who who wouldn't want their music 0:12:08.480 --> 0:12:12.480 to get to more people. No one really says I 0:12:12.559 --> 0:12:14.920 want to grow to a certain amount of fans and 0:12:14.920 --> 0:12:16.440 then I want to stop right there and I don't 0:12:16.440 --> 0:12:19.079 want to gain anymore. I want to just have those 0:12:19.160 --> 0:12:22.120 fans and never get any more. So you get what 0:12:22.120 --> 0:12:25.560 I'm saying. It's like any business. You have a concrete company, 0:12:26.080 --> 0:12:30.920 you want to increase your client base, and that's what 0:12:31.120 --> 0:12:33.840 songs are for musicians. So what we have to do 0:12:34.520 --> 0:12:37.320 is we have to pick one and then we have 0:12:37.440 --> 0:12:41.400 to pitch that to radio, and radio can only when 0:12:41.480 --> 0:12:44.880 we give them one. They can only play that one 0:12:45.679 --> 0:12:49.160 if they want to play right, If they pick another 0:12:49.240 --> 0:12:54.880 one and decide to play that, it hurts the current single. 0:12:55.360 --> 0:12:57.640 And if it hurts the current single, then the current 0:12:57.679 --> 0:13:03.920 single will never move up the charts because radio stations 0:13:04.000 --> 0:13:08.080 look at each other's playlist and they share them together. 0:13:08.160 --> 0:13:11.280 And so we need to be unified on one song, 0:13:11.720 --> 0:13:14.400 so that the radio stations across the country in the 0:13:14.440 --> 0:13:19.800 world are unified on one song because as they each 0:13:20.160 --> 0:13:24.440 contribute their amount of spins, those spins are counted and 0:13:24.559 --> 0:13:27.600 that counts for the chart system, which you guys might 0:13:27.679 --> 0:13:31.080 know as the Billboard chart where a song starts going 0:13:31.160 --> 0:13:34.880 up the chart, and that's based on spins per market 0:13:35.280 --> 0:13:38.800 per radio station. So we have to focus on one. 0:13:38.840 --> 0:13:41.040 So here's the problem. There's a lot of problems, but 0:13:41.080 --> 0:13:46.480 here's one of them. Say Philadelphia jumps on this song early, 0:13:46.800 --> 0:13:50.200 the current radio single from me, and they start playing it, 0:13:50.280 --> 0:13:55.080 but Portland, Oregon, they're not sure yet, or they're too full, 0:13:55.120 --> 0:13:56.920 maybe their playlist is too full because they can only 0:13:56.920 --> 0:13:59.240 play so many songs in one day, so they want 0:13:59.240 --> 0:14:02.880 to wait a little bit longer. And then Boston jumps in, 0:14:03.520 --> 0:14:06.920 and then Louisville, Kentucky, jumps in on it, and then 0:14:07.760 --> 0:14:12.800 and then Fort Lauderdale jumps on it. But Portland's still 0:14:12.840 --> 0:14:16.679 not playing it. So then six months goes by and 0:14:16.760 --> 0:14:19.000 Portland goes, Okay, we're ready. We think this song's a hit. 0:14:19.080 --> 0:14:22.480 So they start playing it. But now, guess what, Philadelphia's 0:14:22.480 --> 0:14:24.720 been playing it for six months, and it's getting to 0:14:24.760 --> 0:14:28.360 be a little bit old to them. So it's brand 0:14:28.360 --> 0:14:31.040 new in Portland, it's old in Philadelphia. And you got 0:14:31.040 --> 0:14:32.640 to get them all to keep on playing it. So 0:14:32.720 --> 0:14:36.480 it keeps going up to chart, and some stations say, 0:14:36.680 --> 0:14:39.560 I don't want to play it till say Detroit will 0:14:39.600 --> 0:14:42.280 throw that out there. SA Detroit says, we don't want 0:14:42.320 --> 0:14:44.480 to play it until it's top thirty. On the chart. 0:14:45.520 --> 0:14:47.600 So Detroit's not even going to touch it until it 0:14:47.600 --> 0:14:50.160 gets the top thirty. And so you need Portland to 0:14:50.160 --> 0:14:52.840 start playing it. You need Philadelphia to stay active on it. 0:14:53.320 --> 0:14:56.680 You need Fort Lauderdell to start increasing their spins on 0:14:56.760 --> 0:14:58.920 it so that it gets top thirty. So Detroit adds it. 0:14:59.120 --> 0:15:01.680 Then Detroit adds and they're brand new on it and 0:15:01.720 --> 0:15:04.880 they're eight months in. But Philadelphia, now they're eight months 0:15:04.880 --> 0:15:06.880 old with the you know what I mean, it's a 0:15:06.960 --> 0:15:12.680 huge problem. And and my my fan base is thinking, yeah, 0:15:12.680 --> 0:15:14.920 we've heard this song for eight months now, he's still 0:15:14.920 --> 0:15:19.080 talking about it. And that's why you might hear an artist, 0:15:19.120 --> 0:15:22.520 a major artist that's keeps talking about the same song 0:15:22.560 --> 0:15:25.880 on Instagram and you've heard it a million times, but 0:15:25.960 --> 0:15:29.040 he's still or she's still talking about it. It's because 0:15:29.040 --> 0:15:31.000 they still got to get these other stations on board. 0:15:31.040 --> 0:15:33.880 So by the time this whole process is done today 0:15:33.920 --> 0:15:38.760 and today today's world, it's like it's it's like a 0:15:38.960 --> 0:15:44.400 year's process, like fifty weeks or more. So by the 0:15:44.440 --> 0:15:46.760 time that year goes by, you've been pumping one song, 0:15:46.800 --> 0:15:49.000 You've got all the stations, it's peaked out at whatever 0:15:49.040 --> 0:15:53.320 position on the chart, and then then you have to 0:15:53.320 --> 0:15:56.720 decide should we release another single from this album or 0:15:57.080 --> 0:15:59.360 I already have all these new songs written, maybe we 0:15:59.400 --> 0:16:01.560 should just put up a new album. And it's a 0:16:01.560 --> 0:16:03.520 big dilemma. Then you put out a new album and 0:16:03.560 --> 0:16:07.280 then guess what happens. All those songs that you thought 0:16:07.320 --> 0:16:11.560 were good are now old and on the previous record 0:16:12.280 --> 0:16:16.440 and it's super frustrating. How do you fix the problem? 0:16:16.680 --> 0:16:19.240 I mean, there's that's that's another question for another day. 0:16:19.280 --> 0:16:22.640 It's very it's very detailed, and one day, like I said, 0:16:22.680 --> 0:16:25.280 I might maybe I'll write a book about this. And 0:16:26.120 --> 0:16:30.040 it's not one person or one station or one artist problem. 0:16:30.320 --> 0:16:34.880 It's all of them collectively creating a system that's a 0:16:34.920 --> 0:16:39.880 monster to the music business. And it's not it's not 0:16:39.920 --> 0:16:43.560 like some people say, like Nashville sucks, Well, it's not Nashville. 0:16:44.840 --> 0:16:48.840 It's collectively everyone cooperating in the same in the same 0:16:48.960 --> 0:16:56.680 system that becomes the problem. So to answer your original question, Stephanie, 0:16:56.720 --> 0:16:58.960 how do you pick it? We just guess. I mean, 0:16:59.000 --> 0:17:02.680 we guess what might work well on radio. We guess 0:17:02.840 --> 0:17:06.200 what we might play it for a few people radio 0:17:06.280 --> 0:17:09.800 stations and see if they have a top song out 0:17:09.800 --> 0:17:13.200 of three that we give them, and then what sucks 0:17:13.240 --> 0:17:15.520 is you got to you got to pick the song 0:17:15.640 --> 0:17:20.399 that you know is gonna work well in all fifty 0:17:20.440 --> 0:17:25.080 states of the United States and Canada and Australia and Europe, 0:17:25.240 --> 0:17:29.720 and you it's really hard to find a song that 0:17:29.840 --> 0:17:35.600 works in San Antonio, Texas and every other city you 0:17:35.640 --> 0:17:38.560 could possibly think of. I mean, I mean, you can't. 0:17:38.960 --> 0:17:41.840 You can't sit here and go okay. Sioux Falls works 0:17:41.880 --> 0:17:47.240 with Portland, Maine, which works with Portland, Oregon, which works 0:17:47.240 --> 0:17:52.080 with Miami, Florida, which works with Charlotte, North Carolina, which 0:17:52.280 --> 0:17:58.240 works with Phoenix, with you know, Albuquerque. It just it's 0:17:58.240 --> 0:18:01.840 a crazy mess, and it's a great question, Stephanie. I 0:18:01.880 --> 0:18:04.040 hope that. I hope they kind of got to it 0:18:04.080 --> 0:18:13.160 for you here. Let's move on. Next question random It says, Hey, there, Granger. 0:18:13.840 --> 0:18:17.239 Everyone has their own definition of success. Was there a 0:18:17.280 --> 0:18:22.320 moment or time that you felt like you actually made it? 0:18:24.560 --> 0:18:26.920 Just hitting this time in my music career, almost twenty 0:18:26.960 --> 0:18:29.320 five years later, my definition turns out to be much 0:18:29.440 --> 0:18:32.919 less glamorous than what I ever expected it to be. 0:18:33.400 --> 0:18:39.760 Thanks man, Love the show, Randy. Awesome question Randy, and 0:18:40.800 --> 0:18:46.359 success is a very volatile word because the reality about 0:18:46.359 --> 0:18:50.679 success is everyone has their own definition and you have 0:18:50.720 --> 0:18:56.560 to almost categorize success in your career, success in family, 0:18:57.560 --> 0:19:03.680 success in life, and those are multi layered, each of those. 0:19:03.800 --> 0:19:05.920 So if you just want to look at career, that's 0:19:05.960 --> 0:19:07.960 one thing, but you might have been a failure in 0:19:08.000 --> 0:19:09.960 your family. If you want to be a success in 0:19:10.000 --> 0:19:12.680 your family, you might be a failure in your career. 0:19:13.760 --> 0:19:17.040 So how do you balance all that? So how you 0:19:17.200 --> 0:19:21.879 define success, Randy is different than your next door neighbor, 0:19:22.000 --> 0:19:29.080 or me, or your mother. So I get this question 0:19:29.160 --> 0:19:33.080 a lot when people ask me when was the time 0:19:33.160 --> 0:19:37.840 you felt like you made it? It's such a It's 0:19:37.880 --> 0:19:42.359 such a common question and yet so difficult to answer 0:19:42.440 --> 0:19:48.119 because whenever I hear that or read that, I always think, well, 0:19:48.119 --> 0:19:56.600 I haven't made it yet. And you might listen to 0:19:56.680 --> 0:20:00.960 the show Randy and think, well, bro, I follow you, 0:20:01.440 --> 0:20:04.399 I listen to your music. You have plaques hanging on 0:20:04.440 --> 0:20:08.720 the wall, you have a podcast, and you've made it, dude. 0:20:09.160 --> 0:20:14.919 But I don't think I have and I don't think 0:20:15.000 --> 0:20:18.080 I ever will kick back in the chair in country 0:20:18.119 --> 0:20:22.520 music and go, ha made it. I made it. And 0:20:22.880 --> 0:20:26.440 then even if I did, what would I do? Then 0:20:28.160 --> 0:20:31.800 where would I go from there? Well, why if I 0:20:31.840 --> 0:20:34.680 did make it, what would I Why would I still 0:20:34.720 --> 0:20:38.440 make music? Would it just be for fun? After I've 0:20:38.560 --> 0:20:41.000 made it? Why would I want to put out another 0:20:41.040 --> 0:20:47.359 record just because I can? And so you see the 0:20:47.520 --> 0:20:52.840 interesting problem that occurs with saying I've made it. But 0:20:52.920 --> 0:20:55.240 I could dig in a little bit and say there 0:20:55.240 --> 0:21:04.240 are moments in my career when got better are easier. Okay, 0:21:04.800 --> 0:21:08.440 even that creates problems because then you think, well, with more, 0:21:08.600 --> 0:21:10.439 a little bit more success, you get a little bit 0:21:10.440 --> 0:21:13.359 more problems. And that is so true. You make a 0:21:13.400 --> 0:21:16.480 little bit more money, you're spending more money every time. 0:21:16.840 --> 0:21:20.399 Every time you make more money in any business, you're 0:21:20.720 --> 0:21:25.720 inevitably also spending more money. And sometimes you can make 0:21:26.960 --> 0:21:31.560 just enough money and spend exactly that amount, and then 0:21:31.680 --> 0:21:33.960 make more money and spend that, so you end up 0:21:34.119 --> 0:21:37.760 not making anything different than you were ten years ago. 0:21:39.240 --> 0:21:46.399 And it's hard to really create a separation between if 0:21:46.440 --> 0:21:50.520 you're a small business like me, creating a separation between 0:21:51.200 --> 0:21:54.879 the extra money you're making from a successful business and 0:21:54.880 --> 0:21:57.000 then the extra money then you need to spend to 0:21:57.080 --> 0:22:00.400 keep up with that new success that you have. And 0:22:00.440 --> 0:22:05.600 that's as simple as take employees. For example, if I 0:22:05.600 --> 0:22:08.640 if my career grows as a musician and we get 0:22:08.240 --> 0:22:12.800 bigger and better shows, then I have to pay my 0:22:13.000 --> 0:22:17.080 guys bigger and better money. I can't just pay them 0:22:17.080 --> 0:22:18.720 what I paid them when we were in the van 0:22:18.880 --> 0:22:21.560 and say, ah, this is great, we're doing good, we're 0:22:21.600 --> 0:22:23.320 getting good shows, and I have to I don't have 0:22:23.359 --> 0:22:28.520 to pay my guys anything. That's my responsibility to keep 0:22:28.560 --> 0:22:31.840 them relatively moving up with their salaries and their money 0:22:31.880 --> 0:22:35.040 so that that they're joining in on all of this. 0:22:36.720 --> 0:22:43.119 So digging into your question, my definition, as you say, Randy, 0:22:43.240 --> 0:22:46.280 my definition turns out to be much less glamorous than 0:22:46.280 --> 0:22:49.600 what I expected it to be. And that is exactly right, 0:22:49.640 --> 0:22:54.159 and that is not any different than anyone else. The 0:22:54.240 --> 0:22:58.359 keyword that you said in that sentence is expected, because 0:22:58.480 --> 0:23:03.399 expectation is a dangerous game that you play with yourself, 0:23:04.400 --> 0:23:08.399 and you have to keep your gratefulness higher than your 0:23:08.440 --> 0:23:12.600 expectation at all times because if you don't, then when 0:23:12.640 --> 0:23:14.760 you get to where you thought you had made it, 0:23:15.040 --> 0:23:19.640 where you expected to make it, it's going to be disappointing. 0:23:20.000 --> 0:23:25.160 Unless you're a little bit more grateful. And I've said 0:23:25.160 --> 0:23:27.520 this before, but if you're going to have higher expectations, 0:23:27.960 --> 0:23:31.560 you better have really high gratitude. And I don't want 0:23:31.600 --> 0:23:34.440 anyone listen to this podcast to have low expectations in 0:23:34.480 --> 0:23:36.959 their life or their love, or their business or their family. 0:23:37.400 --> 0:23:40.600 You shouldn't have low expectations. You need to have high. 0:23:41.040 --> 0:23:45.119 So that requires super high gratitude, and so many people 0:23:45.920 --> 0:23:49.680 forget that part of it. They forget that they need 0:23:49.720 --> 0:23:56.440 to stack up their gratefulness. The world teaches you to run, 0:23:56.720 --> 0:24:01.359 succeed and get up early and fight and claw and 0:24:01.560 --> 0:24:06.280 expect greatness, but the world doesn't always teach you to 0:24:07.160 --> 0:24:11.760 constantly be looking around and grateful where you are right now, 0:24:12.160 --> 0:24:15.359 right here, right now. What are you grateful for today? 0:24:16.280 --> 0:24:19.240 And if you have trouble with that question, you should 0:24:19.240 --> 0:24:23.879 seriously consider thinking about it and dissecting that in your brain, 0:24:24.000 --> 0:24:25.880 because if you can't think of what you're grateful for 0:24:25.920 --> 0:24:28.360 today right now, you have to go all the way 0:24:28.400 --> 0:24:31.879 back to Huh, I'm grateful that I'm sitting in this 0:24:31.960 --> 0:24:34.600 room in a T shirt, I'm not sweating and I'm 0:24:34.680 --> 0:24:40.440 not cold. Simple as that, I'm grateful for an air conditioner. 0:24:40.440 --> 0:24:44.239 That's keeping this room right around seventy degrees because I've 0:24:44.280 --> 0:24:45.960 been in a lot of situations when I'm really hot 0:24:45.960 --> 0:24:48.080 and sweating and miserable. I've been in a lot of 0:24:48.080 --> 0:24:50.880 situations where I'm freezing cold and can't not warm up. 0:24:51.680 --> 0:24:53.840 So right now, I am grateful to beat a T 0:24:53.960 --> 0:24:57.280 shirt and have a normal temperature. Right I mean that 0:24:57.359 --> 0:25:00.960 sounds stupid, but that is how you can find gratefulness 0:25:01.359 --> 0:25:04.720 in everything you do, And if you learn to cultivate 0:25:04.760 --> 0:25:11.880 that gratefulness, then it will start counteracting that high expectation 0:25:12.040 --> 0:25:17.960 that you have. I don't know if I really gave 0:25:18.000 --> 0:25:21.280 you the answer that you wanted, but that's the truth. 0:25:21.400 --> 0:25:24.399 I don't know if I've ever felt like I made it, 0:25:25.359 --> 0:25:29.040 And I could be retired from music one day and 0:25:29.240 --> 0:25:32.280 still not think that. But as long as I have 0:25:32.359 --> 0:25:45.320 a high gratefulness, I'm okay with that. Good question, buddy, 0:25:46.240 --> 0:25:48.399 here's a question from John. He says, Hey, Granger, my 0:25:48.480 --> 0:25:50.280 name is John. I would like to know how you 0:25:50.320 --> 0:25:54.000 come up with song with the song I Kill Spiders. 0:25:54.760 --> 0:25:57.639 I also wondered, is the little girl's voice in that 0:25:57.760 --> 0:26:01.040 song your daughter? Like the new album? I can't wait 0:26:01.080 --> 0:26:03.960 for Volume two? God bless you your family, crew and friends. 0:26:04.000 --> 0:26:08.320 Stay safe. John h. Thank you, buddy, thank you for 0:26:09.040 --> 0:26:13.320 those kind words. And I Kill Spiders is on the 0:26:13.359 --> 0:26:18.600