question for working pro's

Cainer

Cainer

Power User
I'd like to hear from people making a living playing music, or at least a significant portion of their living. What was the key in making the next step from occasional/weekend gigger, to being more what people would refer to as a 'pro'? Advice, lessons learned, anything at all welcome!

Thanks!
 
What I did was simple. I practiced hard and continue to do so daily. That's it. But you will need some other skill sets. Learn a variety of music. Learn to read music. 95% of all my gigs require reading. All of the Pro's I know don't want to spend a lot of time rehearsing, and when they (we) do we want it very productive. Everyone brings a music stand and pencils and we go over the charts as we play. Even for very organized arranged and difficult music one good rehearsal is generally all it takes. Two or even three would be better but most can't afford that financially or schedule wise.

Know how to deal with people graciously. Return calls promptly. Be ON TIME ALWAYS. You're building a reputation. Word travels fast in musician communities. Hang with other musicians, especially those who play your own instrument. They will be the ones, most likely to refer you. Learn the music, at least some, that other bands are playing. You hopefully, will be called as a sub. Good subs get great full time work, if that's what you want.

Be willing to play anything, work hard to do the best that you can. Don't bring an attitude and show respect. Don't complain. Be professional. Don't noodle all the time.

I have a bass player friend who is one if the top guys in LA. His thing is he NEVER turns down work. Never. If he double or triple books himself he just farms it out to another great bass player.

That's my advice. It may or may not apply to you. I have been better at some things, worse at others. If I applied everything I say I'd be working non stop. I don't hang a lot, for instance. And I definitely could work more.

Good luck!
 
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Aside from being as practiced and diverse of a player as you can be, networking is a huge thing. Get out there and meet people, talk to people, jam with people. Like Henry said above, be an attractive asset by conducting yourself professionally, and respectfully. One thing I've learned is that while the talent part is important, a "good name" out there is what makes or breaks your chances. I've seen it happen to so many people..great players but either they have ego/attitude issues or can't show up on time, or aren't prepared, etc. Other than that, be willing to accept any and all work you can get. Don't be worried about starting small. It's all part of the game.
Good luck!
 
Cainer said:
What was the key in making the next step from occasional/weekend gigger, to being more what people would refer to as a 'pro'?
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This is what I did to become a full time solo act.
1. Actually decide to do it and act.
2. Learn/rehearse/memorize a full night of material.
3. Get on the phone, schedule sales meetings and fill up the calendar.

That was it - 16 years ago.

Advice?
It's not about you. It's all about the audience and working your craft well enough to move them emotionally. Not friends & family, complete strangers who've never seen you before. If you transform their evening and take them somewhere emotionally, you've done your job. Take a tiny piece of the world and make it significantly better for one night, that's my motto.
 
Pretty much +1 everything Henry said.

In my working life an network 95% of the people I play with have a conservatory education, so there is that. An education like that will give you experience and the beginning of a network, it is also very expensive and 4-6 years out of your life where you can't really do anything else.

Like everybody else says diversity is good.

Eric's advice about selling your music as a product is also good.

Jens
 
You need contacts. If you're doing a solo act, work on your material right away. Go to the venues where you can see yourself playing. You need to network so you need contacts. Get cards made. When you see the band meet them. Give your card, get numbers and numbers. Do the same with the bartenders, bar managers, restaurant owners, theater folk, fans who may want to help or be in the know. Be systematic about going through your "Rolodex". Take notes on your calls. Ask the people you call if they know anyone who needs a guitarist or a band or a solo act. Collect more names. Add to your Rolodex.
 
My brother and I (both electrical engineers in New Orleans at the time, playing crap bars for very little pay) plastered Napster with hundreds of recordings of our band with an audio tag at the end for our website. A bandleader for a cover band in Vegas heard them and emailed us. We moved to Vegas to give it a shot. That was 13 years ago, and I've been playing music as my main profession ever since.

Everyone's story will be different.
 
steadystate - that's the same principle of what I stated above. Contacts. Plastering your music is similar to collecting names, a little more impersonal. You have to let people know who you are and have to find out what is needed and wanted and let them know what you do and what that you can provide that thing.
 
Cainer said:
This is the biggest stumbling block for me. Any advice on this particular aspect of it? How do you go about it?
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I locate all the venues within a desired radius that do live music. Find out of they do smaller acts, study who they're booking, figure out how to offer something as good or better, call the venue and ask who takes care of live music. At least half the time they just want an email link to demos. I send them to my youtube channel. The other half I go in and meet face to face, play the same youtube videos on my ipad and sell a gig. Getting in takes persistence, but after first performance I get rebooked. Some rooms aren't organized and I end up doing multiple calls after each performance to get rebooked. That gets old. But most aren't that bad. When booking I try to book at least three months in advance all at once.

I tried forming a network with the top soloacts. That was easy when they were really good. Unfortunately most of the top guys stopped gigging or moved somewhere else. The remaining "top" acts are like herding cats. No one calls or talks to anyone. I called several, sent multiple gigs and leads to them, stayed in touch, etc. But it was like trying to develop a relationship with a black hole; everything went in, nothing came out.

Today's solo acts seem far more antisocial and don't network...bizarre. I finally gave up and just collect their websites. Now they do all the work, knocking on doors, meeting, convincing venues to do music, etc. I just surf their calendars, call the rooms, book myself, and it's survival of the fittest or whomever is most popular with the (typically clueless) person that live music was pawned off onto, usually a bartender, or worse, someone who thinks they're a musician, but aren't. 95% of the time I do great in the room because there's only a couple people in the 2+million city I live in that actually do something similar to me. When I don't fit the gig it's usually poor communication of their expectations, or political BS and the person booking music is eventually canned and/or the venue stops live music. Either way, it wasn't meant to be.

I could go on, but the first paragraph says it all.
 
+1 to everything that's been said.

Be fifteen minutes early to every meeting you schedule. I've gotten more gigs by being there fifteen minutes early than by just about any other thing. This of course assumes you are already doing everything else already mentioned.

A big part of it is dedicating yourself to doing it for a living. If you go all in, you will be successful.
 
henryrobinett said:
steadystate - that's the same principle of what I stated above. Contacts. Plastering your music is similar to collecting names, a little more impersonal. You have to let people know who you are and have to find out what is needed and wanted and let them know what you do and what that you can provide that thing.
Click to expand...

I think Youtube can also be helpful in this respect, as impersonal as it is. You can put links to your Youtube page on your contact material. Its a great way for people to hear and see you at their convenience.

More than a few talented people have become famous from a home video going viral. For instance, the Sleepy Man Banjo Boys. A few vids their dad put on Youtube made them world famous. Their insane talent didn't hurt either.
 
Yes. Its all about letting people know what you do. That's either from live playing and media promo, fan based promo, print, internet, youtube, recordings, email lists, phone calls, collecting network contacts, cold call visits, hanging out with other musicians (schmoozing), bars, venues -- MAKING YOURSELF KNOWN. Once you can play and provide what others might want or need, you need to make yourself known in anyway you can.
 
I get this question a lot and the oh so similar "How do I get people to come to my show". I respond with a question of my own: "How many shows have you gone to this year? Not just major national touring acts, but local shows in venues you want to play." It's ALL about networking. There is absolutely no substitution for a handshake. There are bars that I've been playing for years that I STILL get more dates by talking to them in person than having my agent call him. In fact, we played there just recently and I noticed we don't have a date there for the rest of the year, so at the show I talked to the manager and he booked 2 dates on the spot.

Every place is a little different in methodology, but it's all the same concept. Around here, musicians tend to support musicians that support them. Go to jam sessions and sit-in with the band. Don't be afraid to walk right over to musicians you recognize from other gigs and start talking, even if you've never met them before. Become super visible. I know that when a person that's at every one of my gigs plays a show, I make it a priority to go. Find the person in your local scene that "Knows everybody" and make sure he knows you. Social networking is super important, but that's under the assumption that you've already got the "old school" methods working for you and facebook/twitter etc... are an extension of that.

I don't know what you call a "significant" portion of income, but about 15% of my income is from music. I have an original band and a cover band.
 
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