We were lucky to catch up with Shawn Christian recently and have shared our conversation below.
Shawn, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?
This is a good question to me. I’ve found it can be hard to write music. Writing the actual song isn’t that difficult to many people but to me the hard part about writing music comes from choosing what genre you would like to be known for, getting the right sounds with synthesizers, guitar etc., and finding music you really LIKE to write, not just music that other people would like to hear. This among other things can make writing music difficult. This is why work ethic is so important. To be completely honest I get my work ethic from the fear of not being successful at music. There is something inside me that says, “this is what you need to do for a career.” And then I say “ what if I don’t make it?” And this motivates me to work. I often think if I’m not working on music, then I’m being lazy, and I won’t be successful. So for these reasons I get my work ethic from fear of not being successful at music.
Thanks for sharing that. So, before we get any further into our conversation, can you tell our readers a bit about yourself and what you’re working on?
I write music, but I am not signed by a label. I’ve been writing music m for about 8 months, but playing music for about 20 years.
I have songs on SoundCloud and I am currently submitting songs to record labels using the music submission website, Groover.
My title would be musician. Although this is not my main job.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
Looking back to when I was you get and playing bass, guitar, piano, I think of one of the most important qualities, which is having fun.
From what I learned if you have fun you can learn a lot more and spend more time on practicing and get better at your instruments.
Another importantt quality is dedication. If you don’t have dedication you won’t enjoy the instrument as much and you won’t get as good as other players in my opinion.
The third quality would be not comparing yourself to others. Sometimes I’ve noticed not comparing myself makes free-er in the music and I am able to have confidence in life because I know I am a good player to myself and I am satisfied with where I’m not. Not comparing yourself to other musicians can lead to good things.
My advice for someone starting out is don’t listen to the world. Bass guitar and other instruments can be a world you can escape to in itself. (Thumbs up).
To close, maybe we can chat about your parents and what they did that was particularly impactful for you?
My mother had psychiatric problems and was an alcoholic. She left to go to various institutions when I was young and my dad had to divorce her out of concern for the kids and she never came back to my household.
I bring this up because to be honest, I’d like to say this as a millennial, sometimes a broken home can make you find your own way because parents to comfort you. What I mean is you have to find a way to live on your own as an adult even if you’re young and you have a parent around. This can make you gravitate towards an activity or career path and focus your energy on your own path rather then focusing your energy on the path your parents make. For this reason the best thing my parents did for me was give me a broken home so that I said “F” it I’m playing music my whole life. I chose my own path in music and didn’t let my parents choose my path for me. This also relates to school, work, and other career choices I made. I never had the opportunity to say “ hey I’m gonna do what my parents want me to do.” And for this reason I focused on my own path with music from a young age and got very good as music, earning a bass scholarship at school, playing in bands, etc.
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