Dynamics make your performance more interesting. Too many players just go balls-out from downbeat to the last note. Don't do it. Make your performance a story. Whisper some of the story - how powerful a thing is a whisper!
4. Learn to play with facility at a whisper as well as a wail. Vary your dynamics - it adds drama, and drama is good for your musical performance.
Sometimes, even try silence to say something more important than the notes you know how to play.
More important, make every song a story, and every solo a story within a story. Think about the song - is it ironic? Uplifting? Courageous? Broken? Incorporate those elements into your solo.
Alec Rice Miller (Sonny Boy Williamson II) sings a song that goes: "Don't start me to talking, I'll tell everything I know". While I dig the song, and most everything I ever heard the man play: Don't approach playing music like that.
To take the thought another step farther:
Try working on only one idea at a time.
Try to not reveal all you have in this solo. Or this song. Or even in this show. Leave a little for next time.
Not overplaying shows you to be humble, gracious, and respectful of the musicians your are so fortunate to play with and the audience you're even more fortunate to play for.
