Stevic MacKay - In His Own Words

How did you start your musical journey?

It all started for me in Nilma North, circa 1991. I heard Tommy Emmanuel’s “Dare to be Different” cassette playing on my cousin’s boom box, while he washed his beige Mitsubishi Sigma, and I think that’s the moment I decided I wanted to be a guitarist!

Were there teachers in your life that influenced you?

I’ve had two very pivotal teachers in my life, each of whom influenced me in a different way.

Tony Calabro introduced me to jazz theory. This broke down barriers for me and allowed me to explore new styles of music.

Then there was Samantha Rainey, who really smashed my classical guitar technique into shape! She also introduced me to composers such as Heitor Villa-Lobos, Frank Zappa and Tom Waits, who have had a great impact on my musical life.

Can you describe the moment when you realised that you could make a living out of music?

I was employed to teach guitar at a high school when I was still in high school myself. That was the first time I realised that my skills and passion for the guitar had economic value.

However, as the music industry is in a constant state of evolution – with emerging technology and ideas – I think it’s probably less about having a definitive moment of realisation that I could build my life around music, and more about being ready at all times to adapt and diversify as opportunities arise. As the saying goes: “Luck is opportunity meeting preparation.” I believe the most important element is preparation – preparation is synonymous with hard work.

What is your greatest musical achievement?

That is a really difficult question! In no particular order, some things that come to mind are:

performing the Australian Anthem (as part of a duo) at the Australian Open in front of a televised audience of tens of millions

performing on Top of the Pops in the UK

[Stevic’s heavy metal band] Twelve Foot Ninja winning a Golden Gods Award in the USA selling out headline tours overseas being nominated for an ARIA selling 1.3 million copies of my guitar instructional books finding out that some of my musical heroes dig Twelve Foot Ninja!

What’s next?

I have been working really hard lately on Twelve Foot Ninja’s third album, which is planned for release in 2020. We have also planned headline tours in Australia, the USA and Europe.

Everything else is top secret!

5 Introspections for Aspiring Musicians

1. Explicitly define your goals and review them frequently

If you know where you want to go; the path to get there becomes less mysterious. Whether you want to achieve a specific technical level, headline a festival or sell more home decor than Beyoncé, once you can analyse the trajectory of those who’ve achieved similar goals to yours, you can realistically follow their example, gain insight from their successes/failures, and ultimately have a metric for your ambitions.

2. Is music the right career for you?

Examining your expectations is a great way to reveal assumptions you might be making. “A problem well-defined is a problem half-solved”, and knowing that an assumption is actually an assumption might protect you from the type of delusional thinking that inevitably results in dejection.

It’s a cliché – romantic ideology – to abandon “Plan B” and disavow the “real world” in favour of pursuing creative dreams. However, prematurely depending on music alone can lead to resentment, resentment leads to fear, and fear leads to the Dark Side of the Force! If music is your love and passion, it will serve you well to keep it that way as long as possible.

3. Don’t shy away from the left side of your brain!

Music is a reflection of humanity. So what are the defining characteristics of humanity? Mastery of fire? Opposable thumbs? The Kardashians? Science suggests it is our cognition: decision making, inquisitiveness, communication, self-awareness, etc. In short, although music is “magical”, it requires your mind to harness your full humanity.

4. Learn how to learn

If you’re fortunate enough to have a music teacher, try not to rely on them to make you “awesome”. Awesomeness is entirely dependent on:

5. Procrastination, time management and discipline

Procrastination is any creative’s nemesis. To start with, switch off your smartphone, and get off the Xbox or Facebook. But remember that the cause of procrastination can be less obvious and far more insidious – such as researching and ordering theory books online, reading every word of the preface and then losing interest by the time you get to “equal temperament”, when all you actually wanted to understand was why dominant seventh chords are called “dominant seventh chords”!

Look into Eisenhower’s “time management matrix” to help you identify what is:

A final word: it’s difficult to just decide to “have discipline”, as discipline isn’t simply about willpower. To be disciplined, you need to be a “disciple” to a purpose, ideal or concept. I propose that you can tap into authentic discipline by having clear and specific goals (as outlined in Introspection 1).