When I was talking to Todd Clickard the other day, he told me that Mel Buffo used to say that you could learn a lot from bad musicians.

Generally, you learn from good musicians…. but when you watch and listen musicians that do things wrong, you compare them to what you do yourself.  It reinforces the things that you know you should do.

For instance, Todd was talking about leading a band.  Some band leaders don’t have a set list, call out 10 minute songs for dancers, and hire crappy players.

Most times, you can find something good about even a bad player/band leader though.  So try and learn whenever you can!

You might like how a sax player played a certain riff right when it fit, even if he came in a bar late five seconds later.

Being a hater won’t make you a better saxophone player!  Being aware of the good and bad will though.