Question and Answer

>Do you ever feel that you know too much of what you're playing in advance, and if so, what do you do about it?

Definitely that happens. One of the best things to do is to stop. Just before you're about to play something, don't play it. Even if you start one beat later--which can seem like an eternity at the moment that you've just stopped yourself from playing what you want to play--it almost always makes you land on your feet in a different way, which then makes you play something different. Almost everybody, myself included, plays too much. It's always a good idea to lay out for a bar or two. I was talking with Dave Liebman about this exact subject recently, and his thing was, "Just take the horn out of your mouth." For a horn player, that's a great suggestion. For guitar players, bass players, piano players, drummers, it's a little harder, but it's still good. I've noticed Sco [John Scofield] is doing that now; he actually takes his hands off the guitar for a second, and I'm sure he got that from Liebman, who he played with for a long time. It's a great suggestion. Take your hands off the guitar. The world won't come to an end [ laughs ].