Originally Posted by: ericthecableguy*Don't fiddle around on your instrument when others are talking[/QUOTE]
Definitely. I swear to God, Michael is the worst person in the whole universe for doing that. I just wanna rip that damn bass out of his hands.

[QUOTE=ericthecableguy]*Don't shoot down riffs people present right away. Remember that they spent time writing them, and are probably kind of nervous to show you. You may even eventually grow to like the riff

Also very true. When Michael first showed me the bassline he made up for "Eye Candy," I called it stupid and didn't even want to bother making a song out of it. Now it's pretty much what I consider our signature song, and one of the most fun to play. The same kinda thing happened with one of my own songs. I made up a riff and thought it was dumb, but Mike and Luke convinced me to keep it, and now that's one of our songs too.

I would say learning to try out others' ideas for songs is important, and something I need to work on more. If I bring a song to practice, I instantly tell Luke and Mike exactly what to play, without giving them a chance to try out their own ideas. That's probably why we don't use very many of my songs.