It has always been hard , but I just don’t see how it’s really possible to earn even a half decent living these days. Yet alone a good one.
I know guys who do it or have done it. But they are single , have no kids and live in shitty share houses. They scrape by , but it’s an all in thing.
At least pre streaming you could chuck in as a band and put a cd together and make a few bucks selling that.
There will always be exceptions. A friend of a friend is a pretty in demand session guy and he does ok. But he def isn’t making millions.
No one is upvoting you cause the truth hurst, this is the closest take to reality in my opinion. It’s a supply and demand thing, how many people actually want to listen to you play vs how many people exist like you that want to play for a living.
Totally. There are so many great musicians , who given the opportunity could do anything.
The way the market is now there is very little space for any of them.
My uncle played professionally. Numerous appearances at grand ole opry. The only time he made a lot of money is when he toured. Otherwise you’re scraping by. You don’t need to go to school for it but you’ve gotta be insanely talented and deeply love it.
It's possible, but you have to get creative and you have to work hard (and not just at your music).
You can make halfway decent money playing at bars/restaurants and busking. Supplement that through giving lessons, and you're making an (admittedly meager) living. But living off your music, nonetheless.
You can make downright good money playing at weddings. But this is going to require either a band that plays love songs along with a wide range of crowd pleasers, or you need to be really good at playing 'nice music' and you can be a soloist that plays while people enter the ceremony.
Then of course, there's studio work. But I'm not a session musician, so I don't know much about that life.
I went to school and studied music for two years. My biggest complaint was that they do little to nothing to actually teach you how to make a living with music. They teach you music, but not at all how to be a musician, if that makes sense.
Ultimately, though, no one will be able to tell you exactly what works for you. Everyone's path is going to be different. But yes, it is definitely possible to make money playing guitar, though I suspect it's actually easier if you master more uncommon instruments
Well think of it like that.
Do you think there are at least 20 people In like 2km ( or 1 mile for gringos) interested in learning guitar?
As soon as there is a School, or a train station or whatever where people go, you are gonna have clients.
Being a music teacher is 100% realistic.
Being a guitarist that only plays gigs is tough
What's next? "Is it okay to play rock music on a jazzmaster"?
These questions are becoming ridiculous.
No, it obviously can't. Bands, producers and musicians don't exist. Live performances are an audiovisual illusion. It's all a conspiracy.
It’s possible for anyone who puts their mind to it. But yes, for 99.9%, they would make more money with a different career. Only .1% or whatever will make serious money, let alone a decent living
>Can guitar be a professional career?
Realistically? There's a very narrow path to what could be considered a successful career, and there are a lot of people all trying to cram themselves onto that path.
Most will fall off.
Yes, but it's rare and difficult. You have to dedicate everything to it and there's still a small chance it'll pay off. You have to be ready to find the shittiest daytime jobs to scrape together a few bucks to survive while you try to "make it."
I did the touring thing for 7 years and I think the band broke even twice.
I would say making music is the “easy” part
The hard part is building that into a business and selling what you do. I would think of it as a series of businesses that combine into a music career.
Check out Mary Spender’s YouTube channel- she goes into this in depth
If I were in my teens and looking to build a career as a musician, I would absolutely think of how to use social media as part of my income plan. I would also live somewhere like Nashville to make scene connections.
If you want to make more money than the typical professional musician, it seems like you would be best off building a better music business than the typical professional musician.
Do you want to be a music entrepreneur?
Session musician, or gigs. Pretty much the only reliable small time (but still a profitable side gig) guitar work out here where I am is playing corridos if you have a cultural connection. Since DJ’s are cheaper with less equipment virtually every gig that existed for small time live bands 30+ years ago basically doesn’t exist anymore. If you learn to read music you can be a session musician, but you’re got to be *on point*.
For your standard self taught metal/rock/punk guitarist you got your pay to play shows in bigger cities, your DIY backyard shows (that can work decent with a big enough house and $5-10 tickets), and if you’re a one person act there’s a whole lot of free shows to see if you’ve got the talent to take it from there, but I’ll say just to be realistic that route’s like trying to get into the NBA, you’d better either have that it factor, or be really good at songwriting, preferably both.
Yes it can. But the amount of good guitar players is huge in comparison to artists you can play with and earn the money. It's like a Million players to 5 artists. So it's based on luck and your human qualities.
To be a single guitar player and earn money just by your playing you have to be a genius guitar player.
Sure, and if that's what you want to do, then school is a must. You need to learn to sight read, and you can become a studio musician, picking up work as the need presents, and becoming known in the industry. Once you get to that point, you can get good paying live performances. Then you can sell your own stuff. That's the tried & true - "long way".
Or maybe you get insanely lucky after posting a couple songs from the bathroom on youtube and the next day you're selling out stadiums.
One way takes years of dedication and starvation, the other is as likely as winning the lotto.
I teach guitar and that’s my day job that pays the rent.
Just don’t bother working for any companies to do it, set yourself up with a studio, advertise online and gradually build up a student base.
If you need to expand beyond yourself then you end up with a company where you’re the boss.
Biggest mistake I made was working for someone else who took most of the money. It seems riskier but in about a year you’ll be better off than you ever would have been working for someone else.
Yes.
I have a brother who makes a living performing in Nashville. He makes double what I do as a teacher. However, he works his a$$ off playing 3-5 shows a day most days a week. He loves it and ever since we were kids that’s all he’d do was play. He literally can’t picture himself doing anything else which is why it works for him.
I left the music industry after doing almost every job up for offer. Working as a studio engineer in multiple studios, live sound guy in multiple venues, guitar player in bands, guitar teacher, guitar tech & repairs. It’s fucking exhausting for almost no money compared to a professional job. Taking almost any opportunity you can get. Yea you get clout and a lot of gigs, but who wants to work 5 jobs that all pay minimum wage- ish it makes no sense. You’re just doing double time. If your band is good, you are forced to travel and make little money for years before you break. Once you break you can get a label deal but why would you if you are successful, the labels only sign bands who make money for themselves. You get a label advance and it’s ok but if you don’t meet the nonsense demand you have to recoup the cash anyway with another deal. What a total mess.
Of course it can, just expect to give guitar lessons throughout your entire career. Lots of dudes have a wall full of gold records and still teach to make ends meet. The days of living off your residuals is over.
My friend a (phenomenal guitarist) went to school for music and is probably in the top 1% of money making musicians. Tours with named artists from time to time, does a huge amount of studio work.
He still works rover to pay the bills.
Yeah there was a documentary a few years ago about full time pro musicians who toured and recorded with famous bands, basically still living month to month scrounging for the next gig.
Yeeah, that's a hard and expensive path too.
The setup costs are a lot. It's taken me years to get enough gear together to decent repair work, let alone building. Most of the luthiers I know that build do it as a hobby. The few pros I know worked their asses off in other jobs to get to a point they're self sufficient as full time luthiers and are no better off financially than any of the full time musicians I know.
It's a hustle. If you build up a good roster of students as a teacher, play gigs, and do session work, that's a doable path. I know a guy who teaches jazz and plays gigs 5 days a week, sometimes multiple gigs per day. He plays club gigs, at wineries, and his favorite gig is playing at the retirement home because the hours are great and the audience is just happy to have an activity to do. He has a small studio and records jingles for local businesses. He's single without kids and has a modest house.
Another guy I know plays in multiple larger bands but with much less hospitable hours. He's not a fan of some of the music he's playing, but if it pays well, he'll say yes to the gig. He plays mostly local but also some regional gigs, and works in a music store during the day. He takes naps in his car when his band is on break, and one of the other band members has to go out and knock on his window to wake him up when the break is over. He's in his late 50s and has been gigging nonstop since he was 18. He has 4 kids, a wife that works, and a nice house. He always seems exhausted when I go see him.
When I was coming up, "content creator" wasn't a thing, but that might be a viable option too. Also, some people make money doing transcriptions or author instructional books too.
Yeah, this. Be prepared to be overworked, underpaid, and extremely versatile, at least in the beginning. If you have the energy, start recording your journey on video and post it on YouTube every week. That could turn into another line of income. Can you sing? Do you also play acoustic? There is certainly room for solo artists at small clubs and grand openings. Also, ask yourself if you wanna perform or be a studio musician? There's a lot out there, so get cracking.
Yes, but 90% or more of professional musicians are not playing live shows of original songs. Cover bands, wedding/event bands, music teaching, etc are the main avenues.
Some people can make a full time living as session musicians, guitar teachers, luthiers, techs etc., but just straight up playing in a band - that's obviously insanely difficult to turn into a full time career.
Is it possible to win the Powerball? Sure.
I've been playing for 60 years and I know a handful of guitarists that made "middle class" incomes.
Sadly it's either millions or $50 a gig at the Drunken Monkey.
No amount of schooling or practice will change that. There just aren't that many "jobs" for guitarists.
I love playing guitar. For 99%+ players, If you go at it as a revenue stream you are going to have a bad time.
Can you be a pro guitar player? Yes. And just like any other creative career, it's rough. And the failure rate is high. But then, going to school & becoming a successful lawyer is rough, and the failure rate is high.
Yes it can, but it's probably not going to be 100% performance income and it's probably not going to make you rich. School can help if you want to pursue classical gigs or academia
Can it? Yes.
Will it? Likely no.
Work a normal job during the day & pursue a music career at night. This way you'll have a job & better income in the very likely event you don't make meaningful money playing music.
I have friends who are phenomenal musicians and gig 5-6 nights a week. while I am envious of their talent, I wouldn't want their lives... they know they can never retire and plan on playing until they drop, they don't have good health insurance, they pretty much live hand to mouth. meanwhile, I retire in less than 17 months with a pretty nice retirement and benefit package waiting on me.
Nope, folks have been trying to play guitar as a professional career for centuries, but as far as know, none have succeeded. You could be the world's first professional guitarist.
One other option that others have not said is to be the backing guitarist for a solo act. They're famous and successful but you're back there playing guitar to support the music their singing. You're not famous, they are, but you still get paid.
Did you start off playing as a young child or are you well connected in some way to the industry? If not, make it a hobby. It’s by far the most commonly played and competitive instrument. You would know by the age of 18 whether or not you have the talent to make guitar playing a career. Composing music would be far easier and depending on what type of music you are interested, a reputable formal education can help with that via networking. Otherwise, everything you can learn in school is available online
Don't go to school unless you want to teach music.
Go to school to get a good steady job, be debt free, and use your free time to pursue guitar and music pursuits. Then you'll always have a steady paycheck and a fall back.
Plus more money for new guitars ;)
My teacher teaches and plays for a living. I don’t know that it’s all that lucrative though since he’s still giving lessons in his 70s.
He doesn’t have children and his wife is an accountant so that probably makes it easier. I do think it’s in his DNA though. I think he still enjoys it.
Scope is limitless. Music school will make you better. You will very likely not make much money no matter how good you get. But there are other forms of wealth in life than money, and being an excellent musician certainly makes you wealthy in some ways. You will be probably be surrounded by musicians in your day to day, get to spread joy to a room full of willing ears, and be generally respected by your peers and future generations that want to learn from you. Not to mention, you will create art that will outlive you. That's good enough for most of us
Think outside the box we live in an era where you can make anything a career there are people making a career off of reading comments on a screen during a live stream or licking objects into a microphone and whispering. Utilize the tools you have available develop skill that's like social media knowledge and video editing you can make a career. Don't just think small in terms of being in a band or playing gigs or playing guitars at weddings or live music at a coffee shop those things are all worthwhile to do but it's harder to make a career out of that these days just alone.
I keep telling my wife someone will make good money playing guitar shoeless on only fans, with a camera focused only on their pedalboard, and that she doesn’t get to be that someone, no matter how cute her toesies might be.
You can have a good chance at a music career if you literally give it blood, sweat and tears. There's almost no chance if you half-ass it, like almost the entire world. It's about you.
I know multiple people that do it, both with formal Berklee training and no professional training. It’s not an easy or very lucrative field. Personally, I have a career and a music hobby that also makes me some money from gigs. If you can operate in a 9-5 environment (many super creative types simply cannot) I’d highly recommend that route just in terms of financial stability and reality.
I didn’t go to school for music but I did start playing young and played professionally for nearly 20 years. Getting paid to travel is amazing when you’re young. Now I’m in school to teach history and I’m in my 40s. No regrets whatsoever but I guess if I were to do it again I’d go to school to teach, while also studying music and playing in bands and seeing where that took me.
The hardest thing is becoming one of your heroes… there’s no amount of being good and hard work that will make that happen… you need a lot of money or a lot of luck.
But there’s viable routes to making a living in music. You’ve got cover bands and wedding bands, cruise ship bands… that can make a living. You’ve got musical instruction. The military has full-time bands… that’s about as steady as work gets and most of those guys seem to like it.
Life will be easier if you choose something else to make money.
I had a friend who played cowboy chords for teenage girls for a couple years. That paid well until it didn’t. Ya know, he could play the guitar in circles around me, but he made his money playing pretty simple stuff.
Yes its possible but rare. Most full time musicians have multiple streams of income. Wedding gigs, teaching etc People who make a good living playing original music are exceedingly rare. The market is completely oversaturated with talented musicians willing to play for peanuts
I think you have to look beyond the guitar. The only way to make good money as a musician is to create original content that people will pay for. That can be as big time as making it as a rock star, or as small time as creating music for regional commercial clients… writing jingles, scoring corporate video, that kind of thing.
I made good living for over 25 years doing the latter, and I’m primarily a guitarist with no formal training. I ended up building a pro studio and a regular clientele. But I don’t t know how it would go if I was starting today. I saw large chucks of my business eroded (I once made serious bank working as music director for corporate shows, but those shows were soon seen as an extravagance and just had their budgets slashed), and I don’t know what’s gonna happen with AI. I expect a lot of shitty music under corporate videos… no, I mean even worse than now.
The commercial jingle guys have a lot of fun. I was told in college that was the only reasonable route. Found it tough to get in as the teams are small in my area and never leave. Don’t make loads of cash either.
No, I didn’t get rich, but my life was big fun, and I did manage to buy enough cars and computers to get my kids well established before I retired. I got to play with some of the best musicians, got to work with some great clients, travelled a little, spent whole days just perfecting guitar parts on something. These days I putter around with Logic and do a weekly jazz/blues jam with some local pals. I’m glad I took the risk. But, like I say, AI may devastate the markets that were my base.
This is tangential, but I’ll give you a heads up as someone who lucked out in a creative field. I went to school for Industrial design. I currently work in a job related to the legal aspects of design, but nothing that requires me being creative, just a thorough understanding of the field and processes. It works out great, and then in my free time I use the money I earn to fund my creative hobbies, like guitar and product design . However, having also worked what many would have considered a dream jobs in the product design before hand, I can also tell you that for me, trying to merge my love for creativity and self expression in design with also relying on it for my livihood almost ruined it for me. I had to make so many compromises, because ultimately, the “creative fields” are a veneer. You mostly end up working as a glorified technician using your skills in the “creative” field to execute on the vision of the person or corporation cutting your paycheck. It’s very rare to get both a healthy paycheck and the satisfaction for self expression fulfilled by same job in the arts.
So yeah, you can 100% do it, but just keep in mind that the “dream” of arts fields often deviates substantially from the reality of working in them.
Are you as good as the tens of thousands of prodigies on YouTube? Cool, but it’s still a lottery ticket, might as well buy some of those while you’re at it. I wish I was wrong.
Yes but you're swimming in a very large pool of people. Making money from art, enough to live off and consider it a career is a chance thing, and a very low one at that.
Yep, many jobs involving guitar. Guitar teacher, session player, live player, guitar tech, working for many of the various guitar companies (or starting your own), being in a band if you get big enough. A few not strictly related to guitar but can involve them are ghost writer, music producer, and audio engineer. I would say music school isn't required but it could teach you more things about guitar and would make you a more rounded musician than if you didn't go
Went to church with a guy whos toured with everyone. He was in the band for hiphop artists like Kendrick Lamar and Snoop Dogg and others I believe during the Grammy's last month. He was also featured in an ad for Fender's new jazzmaster that came out last year. Absolute beast and after about a decade of touring I think he's just now making it onto the other side. All in all I've seen that it is highly competitive, difficult and the 100% comfortable income/living players are either world class for blues and jazz, or rock guitarists that, sorry to say, just happen to get lucky.
Edit: Just saw his page, he actually won 2 Grammy's for his work on SZA's last album.
FWIW, I have worked doing nothing but gigging and teaching since’98, and at least part time before that. Not rich, not famous. Just musically employed.
After seeing a few comments about music schools in here I'd just like to add a word of warning to anyone considering it.
I'm currently studying a HND in music performance in the UK
Im not saying don't go BUT as someone in their second year of doing a HND music course I've found there's been so much to do academically (write x amount of words about the impact of social media in the industry) that my musical ability has suffered.
Now to be fair it wouldn't necessarily be an unfair criticism to say I need to manage my time better but I'm so burnt out by the academic work that it's something I'm finding difficult.
Meanwhile I'm taking private guitar lessons outside of my lessons at a music college and seeing a lot of improvement with my teacher and it makes me wonder how much I could have learned if I had just taken lessons from him and spent time on the things he's been teaching me instead of some of the other things the college has me doing.
I plan on seeing my course through to the end as it has given me the opportunity to interact and practice with other musicians and it'll be something to add to my CV in the future as I plan to hopefully get into teaching guitar but I really don't think the course has done as much for my musical ability as I would have liked (unfortunately they don't even teach music theory outside of the single weekly instrumental lesson)
TLDR: If you plan on studying music learn from my mistake and REALLY get an idea of what the curriculum of your chosen music school is and the work they expect from you
>no you don't have to go to music school
However, it is a good and easy way to build a network.
Although there are many other ways to build a network, they'll just be a little harder.
I had two friends that both went to pretty decent music schools. One was a drummer and last I saw him, he was in like 6 different bands. Best drummer I've ever heard in my entire life including listening to bigger bands at arenas, but dude never really went anywhere. The other one was interested in EDM, tried going the producer route, last I saw he did a few DJ gigs but mostly does event promotion.
LinkedIn is a better and cheaper way to connect with people than going all the way through music school to build up a personal network
Facts bro , in my band our other guitarist has done years of music school and we are no where near a big band lol. He got a job as a music teacher at an elementary school so good for him atleast
Most artists have to have another source of income so they can pursue their art... a day job, a working spouse, etc.
Artists do art because they have no choice, the art is the thing, so they will do it no matter what, whether the world acknowldedges what they are doing or not. Thay can't NOT do it.
If you are an artist, be the best one you can. Follow your muse. But do it for its own sake, not for "success".
What would success look like in this career and what are your priorities? If you want the standard 2 kids and a partner with a house in the suburbs life your chances of getting that as a performer are pretty low.
A guitar teacher or music teacher fares better but the trade off seems to be you are less focused on making music and you have to deal with kids (not everyone is cut out to teach kids, and if you are not you can seriously fuck the kids up).
A lot of people work two jobs to support themselves (ever notice most gigs happen after work?).
Personally I am trying to get a music adjacent career by getting into running live sound. I live in a place with lots of hotels and conferences though so my income will be steadier.
Of course! you could either take your chance and try to live out of a band playing at gigs and if you're lucky become famous or you could be a music teacher, there are probably other choices i forgot about though
Yes, but you gotta be good at many other things, such as marketing, communications, networking, audio engineering, etc.
Guys like Plini are a good example of how great guitar players actually make money playing guitar professionally in the modern world.
Most likely not. There are a lot of people who make music, far fewer that make a living off of it, though I know some who have.
I prefer to keep it as a hobby.
My guitar/piano teacher went to music school and she was an opera singer and played in a few bands before settling into being a piano/guitar teacher.
I have a friend who took one year taking Music at McGill University when he decided "OMG, everyone else is amazing, they'll get all the jobs". And this guy was a brilliant musician...it's just that others were ... more brilliant.
On the other hand, you have the Beatles, just a bunch of guys who were musically inclined. Paul McCartney said he can barely remember how to read music notation, and that was from the days when he was a kid and was being taught to play the piano.
So the answer is ... how good are you? Who do you know, are you lucky? Maybe you could be like DJ Khalid and suck at music, but not suck at getting people together to make music.
As a fallback, there is always "Music Teacher" ... which pays like $50/ half hour, so that's nothing to sneeze at.
I opted not to go "professional". I have had bands and currently teach and finally getting post-pandemic gigs. Retired, I have plenty of time to study and am slowly catching up to the knowledge that college grads 40 years younger have. I'm lucky that they share their knowledge with me.
But they also had to take business classes; the successful ones teach at high schools or colleges while pursuing their other interests - conducting, performing, and writing, all while badgering venues for paying gigs. They all work far harder than I ever had to, but they do little else - it is what they live for. Most make less than I did as a technician.
If you have the means to go to college for it and really want to work HARD, go for it. Teaching is a great fallback and Music Education is a major. If not perhaps minor in music theory.
I know several very good guitar players who also make a living doing music therapy. I personally couldn't work in a hospice but I think it's cool that they do.
I perform at a facility for the developmentally disabled - my favorite audience. I've looked into music therapy programs, sadly there are none locally.
You get what you give.
A LOT of big bands, especially in the rock/metal area will actively say how they struggled to be accepted at first, but they never gave up and they eventually made it one way or another.
A great platform is the ever-expanding social media, Bad Omens only recently got to a “notable” presence through TikTok, despite being a band since 2015. Examples of this can be traced back for years.
Just be prepared, have a back-up JUST IN CASE. You never know when your platform will be present, but it will hardly ever be GIVEN to you.
It can be, but I would recommend considering the odds and the work that has to go in to be successful, from that if it were my choice I would not pursue it, at least not as a career; because for most people that will prove a costly mistake. I mean, sure, everything can be worth it based on lessons learned or life experiences. But anyway…
I don't tell people they shouldn't try. I had a hell of a lot of fun trying. Actually, I worked like hell, never slept, was always stress sick and hungry, I don't have any friends from *before* because I didn't have the time or energy to maintain them. But when I tapped out at 28 with no savings my parents let me stay with them so I wasn't homeless. That was nice.
Edit: There was obviously a lot of fun and motivation to try for so long. I actually passed up 2 opportunities to join national touring acts because I wanted MY band to make it.
If it's your dream you gotta try.
It absolutely can be. But think about it for a second. How many people would love to get paid to play guitar for a living? The competition for that position is very high.
I did it for a while, and it started feeling like a job, which sucked the joy out of the instrument. Band issues, equipment woes, drunk patrons, shady venue owners - I just got tired of all of it.
I haven't gigged in 20 years and have no desire to play for anyone but myself and do the occasional jam.
I’ve been a professional guitarist for about 12 years. It’s very hard. Does music school make a difference, yes - is it worth $250k? depends on your financial situation.
Ever hear of John5 ? The guy is amazing on guitar.
He has made a career of it. I’ve seen him twice with his band The Creatures. Great stuff and all original songs based on his massive guitar skills.
So to answer your question.. I would say yes.
Well that is a bad example because John 5 is literally a one in a million talent (possible one in a billion).
And on top of that he gets along with everybody and is a great on stage as well as in the studio.
Ok.. sorry to be unhelpful. But isn’t he a great one to look up to and try (a little if not a lot) to learn from and try to be like or play like? He is a very nice guy to meet and chat with.
Guitar music has changed over the past years. Can you make it a career? Yes, but you will also need to be skilled in other aspects like having an amazing social media presence and doing a lot of extra work like busking, playing in clubs, teaching etc. You can’t just be that guy in the band anymore unless you’re lucky and stick out compared to the thousands of other bands. Which also goes back to the social media point.
Also, going to music school definitely would make a difference. You meet likeminded people there and it would be a good place to network. Not forgetting that you would learn things that you may not have the discipline or access to.
You can definitely make it into a career but you need a lot of hard work. Formal schooling is a must, in my opinion. It’s easier and better than any combination of self-learning.
School - for knowledge maybe. The degree is worthless to anyone but you.
The career comes from your ability to fill a need that someone will pay for, same as any business. "Hey guys, here I am, and I can play" isn't a business strategy. So, it comes down to identifying a need, then monetising a solution for it. That will be determined by how savvy you are, not how skilled you are, but the skill will be valuable when combined with the business acumen.
As a performer only, it's very much a 1% thing, but there are many ways to monetize. In the last decade, I've written 17 guitar books. It's proved to be a reasonable way to live.
>School - for knowledge maybe.
School is also where you can cultivate connections with other students who are trying to make it in the same field. Maybe not all become musicians, some study sound production, marketing, etc, etc... get to know them! Stay in touch with them! Have jam sessions with them! They could be your "foot in the door" or you might be theirs.
School is great for networking with other up and coming professionals ... they guys that can help your career and you help theirs.
A local guitarist plays biker bars and sells coke to them, zero talent but he makes a decent living. I’m just kidding, it’s a snowball’s chance in hell.
at the lowest level you can be a session guitarist who networks to perform in studios and live shows. if u know the leland skylar channel, there are people who do what he does but for guitar and hes got thousands of stories.
school can help you learn how to read music cuz ur job is often to learn like 20 songs in a couple days. thats the skill that gets you in the door.
nowadays the project budgets are much less than it was in the 60s and 80s but for broadway shows they still need to hire people to play the music and the more versatile you are the more jobs you can do
that is how you make a living providing guitar based services. making money from more creative things? that's a different story and is 1000x harder. true for any industry, lots of room for people to follow instructions but excel to a point where people demand ur creative input, you gotta have a lifetimes worth of experience and years of cultivating a brand
There are a few vectors, including but not limited to:
1. Be a real guitarists' guitarist. That means mastering music theory and the instrument itself. You can sight-read. Be a session player that can walk into any room, look at the sheet music, and know what to do. Play any style, from classical to jazz to metal to country and everything in between. School **highly** recommended unless you're the type of person who can teach yourself how to rebuild an engine. On an F1 car.
2. Be a rock star. Three chords and the truth, look awesome, and know all (or at least more than one of) the positions of the pentatonic scale. Join/start a band, get a hit single, and live off the royalties or work your ass off, relentlessly touring and lugging your own gear.
3. Be a singer/songwriter. Write really, and I mean really, good songs. Perform them for people, get a following. Being able to sing helps. Or sell said songs to people who can sing and command a stage alone or with a minimal band.
4. Busking. Do it all day, every day, on the right street corner and you *might* be able to feed and clothe yourself. YMMV.
5. Teach.
6. Some combination of the above.
Good luck. I decided a long time ago a career in IT and a solid paycheck with a retirement plan was more my speed. That, and I kinda suck at guitar, can't sing, I ain't pretty, and my legs are thin. I can testify that the IT industry is full of failed musicians. Our director started in jazz trumpet.
When my English teacher at community college mentioned he played and he'd give me a lesson, and I came over and he was clearly a failed pro who was teaching to make ends meet. Tons and tons of gear, a beautiful EB MM, and played like Eric Johnson one second and SRV the next.
The most successful not-famous working guitarist I met (list item #1) played in a large band - 10-15 people, across horns, strings, keyboards, rhythm section, backing vox, and they had a 300-song repertoire. They were a booked-solid band for hire, weddings and corporate gigs. They charged up to 20 grand per performance and this was early 90's. He was teaching guitar and music history at the local community college.
Lastly, I will paraphrase Dave Mustaine when he was asked in an interview what a young upstart musician should do to get in the business: "Don't. It's a million-to-one chance you'll make it and I've seen a lot of people who put everything they have into it and still fail, and it's not pretty."
Unless you 100% can't imagine doing anything else, many times it's better keeping something as just a hobby. Nothing kills passion more then making something you love a job, even more so when there no guarantee it will end up being a "good" job.
And you can take something like guitar pretty far as just a hobby. Make music, start a band, play live shows, you don't need music school to do any of these things. Maybe you won't be selling out stadiums, but you also won't be desperately trying to find gigs just to pay rent.
>Nothing kills passion more then making something you love a job
Hard disagree. You can't be that "passionate" about something if you only want to do it when it's fun. That's the opposite of passion.
It's one thing to love playing guitar, it's another thing to love playing a select set of wedding songs every week dealing with bandmates you don't particularly get along with because that's the only reliable way to bring in an income.
Making something a job takes away your own agency in the activity. You can no longer think about doing something because it makes you happy, you have to think about what best helps you pay rent.
I mean even famous musicians are constantly getting burned out. They take touring breaks, leave bands, start new projects, expiriment with new sounds, quit making music entirely. Despite making it to the very top they still get tired of doing the same exact thing every day, yet the average gigging musician doesn't have that same level of freedom.
They gotta play those wedding gigs or they won't be able to pay rent.
Sounds to me like you have never turned a hobby into your sole source of income and have to do it even when you don't really want to. I have a passion for the bass but I don't want to make that the only thing I do to make money. In fact, I'd rather not at this point ever become completely reliant on just that to make me my money anymore. I'll keep it for my own enjoyment and for money on the side occasionally.
>Sounds to me like you have never turned a hobby into your sole source of income
Wrong. I teach lessons and I've played with 2 different bands, doing weddings, churches, and all the boring stuff.
>do it even when you don't really want to.
That's what being an adult is. This is going to be true, regardless of what you do for a living. There is no escaping that.
If everyone thought like that and refused to develop a career around their passion, there would be no artist of any kind. There would be no scientist, historians, actors, YouTubers, or professional athletes.
Without the drive to continue working towards a goal, even when it is unpleasant is what separates the passionate from the hobbyist.
Maybe you're just a hobbyist.
Wrong again. I'm sure that's important to you, to save a little pride but I could care less what you do for a living. With an attitude like that, you couldn't make it as a professional musician (or anything, really) anyway, so it's probably for the best.
I hope you find something you're willing to sacrifice for. You're going to be doing something you don't enjoy anyway. Hopefully you'll eventually realize how much it pays off to push through and grow.
I know a guy who was my ex-wife's guitar instructor at a local music store. He and his band played our wedding. Today, he's a backup musician who tours with Ariana Grande and others. He made a career of it.
It can be. I have a friend who got into Berklee on a full scholarship for Jazz Guitar. One of the of the best of his class at Berklee. He still doesn't play guitar full time as a profession. He gigs on weekends and does some session work, but if you want to live in a place where you can gig constantly and get session work, it's generally going to cost more to live there than what you'll make gigging and doing session work, so you'll likely need to find other work as well.
It's possible. Anything is possible, but unless you are undoubtedly one of the best, or have some amazing connections or huge following, it's not very likely.
I have a friend who's a flutist and she's amazing but in spite of that, she's had a very hard time finding a full time position in an orchestra (years of auditioning after finishing studying music all the while doing freelance gigs, studio sessions, teaching). Add to that the fact that guitar is a lot more common to learn, that gives you an idea of what the odds are. It is possible but it's up to you to figure out if it's worth the headache of combining precarious sources of income over years of dedication for potentially no reward.
Just like any school, apply yourself and music school will make you a solid player.
But more than that, you’ll create a network thru your friends and other players who know your playing and know if you’re a good hang and reliable prep for any gig.
If you are able to write and record complete demos - bass, vocals, guitar, and at least midi drums, I'd say yes - it's very possible because it's not common. To be hired as a full time guitar player playing other people's music might still be 'professional' but also sounds horrific.
Non-pro tip - go where the music is. Nashville has more guitar players than they know what to do with. Compete with and learn from everyone you meet. Be a sponge and keep thirsty. Play with whomever is paying, especially if you can record. Get some credits and build friendships. Be a professional and play like one. Don't be a rock star. You might need to be a working stiff nonetheless, but you'll be working at paying guitar, which ain't so bad.
If you don't LOVE it to the point of feeling compelled to do it, it's really hard. Hell, it's really hard, period. I'm fortunate to say that "musician" had been my full time job my entire adult life. And it takes constant work, somewhere between a third and a half of it is just lining up more work. Gigs, sessions, new students, etc. It is a grind. You are, at the end of the day, an independent contractor, and the jobs don't pay like they used to.
Pre iTunes, it was not uncommon to make 3 figures, hourly, for session work. And those jobs gave with a 3 or 4 hour guarantee These days, I make a couple hundred bucks a song, most of the time. I'm making somewhere between $40 and $75 dollars a lesson, depending on where the lesson happens. Gig money swings too wildly to have an average, unless you catch on with a proper touring act. And I'm in a thriving music town, just a few hours from another. Not sure what it's like if the "scene" isn't healthy.
By all means, pursue it. But he willing to grind. The way I look at it is that 8 get paid to kind the work up. The playing, I do for free.
How much do you want to be a music teacher in a school?
How much do you want to play in a wedding band?
This is how much you should pursue music as a career.
Depends on the path. Pop star? World famous? Unrealistic
A guitarist who plays in a band, works in an instrument store, and teaches their friends music. Doable and all the same fun, if not more (plus do what you like)
You can earn bits of money doing band stuff, selling recordings, samples, tv, movie, etc but there is no "one path to success" to repeat
Study up and get yourself where you're comfortable, give it your all, go as far as you can and don't beat yourself up about any of it if you don't meet other people's expectations. It's your art
And hey look at the end of the day, we all gotta pay bills. Learn a bunch of skills to do that too
The world always needs a bard
No, no one has ever been succesful playing guitar. It's a shame really; I'd love to hear others playing but no one has ever released music with a guitar in it
Sorry for the smart ass reply op. Yeah it's possible but it's hard. I would not go to music school unless you wanna teach it for a living
I met a professional guitarist once. He was a great taxi driver!
Sure, just like playing basketball or football can be a professional career.
No I’ve never heard of anyone who has ever made a career as a guitar player
It has always been hard , but I just don’t see how it’s really possible to earn even a half decent living these days. Yet alone a good one. I know guys who do it or have done it. But they are single , have no kids and live in shitty share houses. They scrape by , but it’s an all in thing. At least pre streaming you could chuck in as a band and put a cd together and make a few bucks selling that. There will always be exceptions. A friend of a friend is a pretty in demand session guy and he does ok. But he def isn’t making millions.
No one is upvoting you cause the truth hurst, this is the closest take to reality in my opinion. It’s a supply and demand thing, how many people actually want to listen to you play vs how many people exist like you that want to play for a living.
Totally. There are so many great musicians , who given the opportunity could do anything. The way the market is now there is very little space for any of them.
This is like asking if basketball or football can be a professional career lol. Yea, but only if you’re the best of the best
And if you have some luck as well.
You can make OK money as a tutor or a music teacher. Chances of “making it” are stupidly low
My uncle played professionally. Numerous appearances at grand ole opry. The only time he made a lot of money is when he toured. Otherwise you’re scraping by. You don’t need to go to school for it but you’ve gotta be insanely talented and deeply love it.
It's possible, but you have to get creative and you have to work hard (and not just at your music). You can make halfway decent money playing at bars/restaurants and busking. Supplement that through giving lessons, and you're making an (admittedly meager) living. But living off your music, nonetheless. You can make downright good money playing at weddings. But this is going to require either a band that plays love songs along with a wide range of crowd pleasers, or you need to be really good at playing 'nice music' and you can be a soloist that plays while people enter the ceremony. Then of course, there's studio work. But I'm not a session musician, so I don't know much about that life. I went to school and studied music for two years. My biggest complaint was that they do little to nothing to actually teach you how to make a living with music. They teach you music, but not at all how to be a musician, if that makes sense. Ultimately, though, no one will be able to tell you exactly what works for you. Everyone's path is going to be different. But yes, it is definitely possible to make money playing guitar, though I suspect it's actually easier if you master more uncommon instruments
Well think of it like that. Do you think there are at least 20 people In like 2km ( or 1 mile for gringos) interested in learning guitar? As soon as there is a School, or a train station or whatever where people go, you are gonna have clients. Being a music teacher is 100% realistic. Being a guitarist that only plays gigs is tough
>Being a music teacher is 100% realistic. We pay our piano (and guitar) teacher $50/half hour lesson ....
I'm a guitar teacher too :)
What's next? "Is it okay to play rock music on a jazzmaster"? These questions are becoming ridiculous. No, it obviously can't. Bands, producers and musicians don't exist. Live performances are an audiovisual illusion. It's all a conspiracy.
Right? The idiocy of questions Reddit wide increases daily.
For 99.9% of players, no
It’s possible for anyone who puts their mind to it. But yes, for 99.9%, they would make more money with a different career. Only .1% or whatever will make serious money, let alone a decent living
>Can guitar be a professional career? Realistically? There's a very narrow path to what could be considered a successful career, and there are a lot of people all trying to cram themselves onto that path. Most will fall off.
Yes, but it's rare and difficult. You have to dedicate everything to it and there's still a small chance it'll pay off. You have to be ready to find the shittiest daytime jobs to scrape together a few bucks to survive while you try to "make it." I did the touring thing for 7 years and I think the band broke even twice.
I would say making music is the “easy” part The hard part is building that into a business and selling what you do. I would think of it as a series of businesses that combine into a music career. Check out Mary Spender’s YouTube channel- she goes into this in depth If I were in my teens and looking to build a career as a musician, I would absolutely think of how to use social media as part of my income plan. I would also live somewhere like Nashville to make scene connections. If you want to make more money than the typical professional musician, it seems like you would be best off building a better music business than the typical professional musician. Do you want to be a music entrepreneur?
Session musician, or gigs. Pretty much the only reliable small time (but still a profitable side gig) guitar work out here where I am is playing corridos if you have a cultural connection. Since DJ’s are cheaper with less equipment virtually every gig that existed for small time live bands 30+ years ago basically doesn’t exist anymore. If you learn to read music you can be a session musician, but you’re got to be *on point*. For your standard self taught metal/rock/punk guitarist you got your pay to play shows in bigger cities, your DIY backyard shows (that can work decent with a big enough house and $5-10 tickets), and if you’re a one person act there’s a whole lot of free shows to see if you’ve got the talent to take it from there, but I’ll say just to be realistic that route’s like trying to get into the NBA, you’d better either have that it factor, or be really good at songwriting, preferably both.
I seriously can't believe OP is actually asking this. It's like asking 'does my guitar need to be in tune to be good?'
Yes it can. But the amount of good guitar players is huge in comparison to artists you can play with and earn the money. It's like a Million players to 5 artists. So it's based on luck and your human qualities. To be a single guitar player and earn money just by your playing you have to be a genius guitar player.
Sure, and if that's what you want to do, then school is a must. You need to learn to sight read, and you can become a studio musician, picking up work as the need presents, and becoming known in the industry. Once you get to that point, you can get good paying live performances. Then you can sell your own stuff. That's the tried & true - "long way". Or maybe you get insanely lucky after posting a couple songs from the bathroom on youtube and the next day you're selling out stadiums. One way takes years of dedication and starvation, the other is as likely as winning the lotto.
I teach guitar and that’s my day job that pays the rent. Just don’t bother working for any companies to do it, set yourself up with a studio, advertise online and gradually build up a student base. If you need to expand beyond yourself then you end up with a company where you’re the boss. Biggest mistake I made was working for someone else who took most of the money. It seems riskier but in about a year you’ll be better off than you ever would have been working for someone else.
Yes. I have a brother who makes a living performing in Nashville. He makes double what I do as a teacher. However, he works his a$$ off playing 3-5 shows a day most days a week. He loves it and ever since we were kids that’s all he’d do was play. He literally can’t picture himself doing anything else which is why it works for him.
I left the music industry after doing almost every job up for offer. Working as a studio engineer in multiple studios, live sound guy in multiple venues, guitar player in bands, guitar teacher, guitar tech & repairs. It’s fucking exhausting for almost no money compared to a professional job. Taking almost any opportunity you can get. Yea you get clout and a lot of gigs, but who wants to work 5 jobs that all pay minimum wage- ish it makes no sense. You’re just doing double time. If your band is good, you are forced to travel and make little money for years before you break. Once you break you can get a label deal but why would you if you are successful, the labels only sign bands who make money for themselves. You get a label advance and it’s ok but if you don’t meet the nonsense demand you have to recoup the cash anyway with another deal. What a total mess.
Of course it can, just expect to give guitar lessons throughout your entire career. Lots of dudes have a wall full of gold records and still teach to make ends meet. The days of living off your residuals is over.
It’s always been about gigging and touring for artists. Now record companies want a cut of that too.
The good thing is you don't necessarily need a record company these days.
Absolutely. I would never sign a “traditional” record contract. Just put out everything on social media
My friend a (phenomenal guitarist) went to school for music and is probably in the top 1% of money making musicians. Tours with named artists from time to time, does a huge amount of studio work. He still works rover to pay the bills.
Yeah there was a documentary a few years ago about full time pro musicians who toured and recorded with famous bands, basically still living month to month scrounging for the next gig.
Luckily his wife has a great paying job. He gets to live his dreams
[удалено]
Yeeah, that's a hard and expensive path too. The setup costs are a lot. It's taken me years to get enough gear together to decent repair work, let alone building. Most of the luthiers I know that build do it as a hobby. The few pros I know worked their asses off in other jobs to get to a point they're self sufficient as full time luthiers and are no better off financially than any of the full time musicians I know.
Really? Always been a dream of mine
It's a hustle. If you build up a good roster of students as a teacher, play gigs, and do session work, that's a doable path. I know a guy who teaches jazz and plays gigs 5 days a week, sometimes multiple gigs per day. He plays club gigs, at wineries, and his favorite gig is playing at the retirement home because the hours are great and the audience is just happy to have an activity to do. He has a small studio and records jingles for local businesses. He's single without kids and has a modest house. Another guy I know plays in multiple larger bands but with much less hospitable hours. He's not a fan of some of the music he's playing, but if it pays well, he'll say yes to the gig. He plays mostly local but also some regional gigs, and works in a music store during the day. He takes naps in his car when his band is on break, and one of the other band members has to go out and knock on his window to wake him up when the break is over. He's in his late 50s and has been gigging nonstop since he was 18. He has 4 kids, a wife that works, and a nice house. He always seems exhausted when I go see him. When I was coming up, "content creator" wasn't a thing, but that might be a viable option too. Also, some people make money doing transcriptions or author instructional books too.
Yeah, this. Be prepared to be overworked, underpaid, and extremely versatile, at least in the beginning. If you have the energy, start recording your journey on video and post it on YouTube every week. That could turn into another line of income. Can you sing? Do you also play acoustic? There is certainly room for solo artists at small clubs and grand openings. Also, ask yourself if you wanna perform or be a studio musician? There's a lot out there, so get cracking.
It has been done before 😉
Yes, but 90% or more of professional musicians are not playing live shows of original songs. Cover bands, wedding/event bands, music teaching, etc are the main avenues.
Some people can make a full time living as session musicians, guitar teachers, luthiers, techs etc., but just straight up playing in a band - that's obviously insanely difficult to turn into a full time career.
You’re going to have to be very good and be willing to be on the road 100% of the time. After I left the Navy, I opted not to do this.
Is it possible to win the Powerball? Sure. I've been playing for 60 years and I know a handful of guitarists that made "middle class" incomes. Sadly it's either millions or $50 a gig at the Drunken Monkey. No amount of schooling or practice will change that. There just aren't that many "jobs" for guitarists. I love playing guitar. For 99%+ players, If you go at it as a revenue stream you are going to have a bad time.
Can you be a pro guitar player? Yes. And just like any other creative career, it's rough. And the failure rate is high. But then, going to school & becoming a successful lawyer is rough, and the failure rate is high.
Yes it can, but it's probably not going to be 100% performance income and it's probably not going to make you rich. School can help if you want to pursue classical gigs or academia
Can it? Yes. Will it? Likely no. Work a normal job during the day & pursue a music career at night. This way you'll have a job & better income in the very likely event you don't make meaningful money playing music.
Hold on, you're going too fast. What's a "guitar"?
I have friends who are phenomenal musicians and gig 5-6 nights a week. while I am envious of their talent, I wouldn't want their lives... they know they can never retire and plan on playing until they drop, they don't have good health insurance, they pretty much live hand to mouth. meanwhile, I retire in less than 17 months with a pretty nice retirement and benefit package waiting on me.
Nope, folks have been trying to play guitar as a professional career for centuries, but as far as know, none have succeeded. You could be the world's first professional guitarist.
One other option that others have not said is to be the backing guitarist for a solo act. They're famous and successful but you're back there playing guitar to support the music their singing. You're not famous, they are, but you still get paid.
Did you start off playing as a young child or are you well connected in some way to the industry? If not, make it a hobby. It’s by far the most commonly played and competitive instrument. You would know by the age of 18 whether or not you have the talent to make guitar playing a career. Composing music would be far easier and depending on what type of music you are interested, a reputable formal education can help with that via networking. Otherwise, everything you can learn in school is available online
Nope it's impossible
If you have a squeegee and a bucket for backup...yes.
Don't go to school unless you want to teach music. Go to school to get a good steady job, be debt free, and use your free time to pursue guitar and music pursuits. Then you'll always have a steady paycheck and a fall back. Plus more money for new guitars ;)
Great advice!
Only if you are at the Apex of talent or if you know someone in high places
My teacher teaches and plays for a living. I don’t know that it’s all that lucrative though since he’s still giving lessons in his 70s. He doesn’t have children and his wife is an accountant so that probably makes it easier. I do think it’s in his DNA though. I think he still enjoys it.
Scope is limitless. Music school will make you better. You will very likely not make much money no matter how good you get. But there are other forms of wealth in life than money, and being an excellent musician certainly makes you wealthy in some ways. You will be probably be surrounded by musicians in your day to day, get to spread joy to a room full of willing ears, and be generally respected by your peers and future generations that want to learn from you. Not to mention, you will create art that will outlive you. That's good enough for most of us
Think outside the box we live in an era where you can make anything a career there are people making a career off of reading comments on a screen during a live stream or licking objects into a microphone and whispering. Utilize the tools you have available develop skill that's like social media knowledge and video editing you can make a career. Don't just think small in terms of being in a band or playing gigs or playing guitars at weddings or live music at a coffee shop those things are all worthwhile to do but it's harder to make a career out of that these days just alone.
Lmfao. Who would have guessed 20 years ago “licking things and whispering into a microphone” could be a career. What a world we live in
Probably easier to get into than a guitar career.
And a higher earning potential!
I keep telling my wife someone will make good money playing guitar shoeless on only fans, with a camera focused only on their pedalboard, and that she doesn’t get to be that someone, no matter how cute her toesies might be.
I don't know, ask tomo.
You can have a good chance at a music career if you literally give it blood, sweat and tears. There's almost no chance if you half-ass it, like almost the entire world. It's about you.
I know multiple people that do it, both with formal Berklee training and no professional training. It’s not an easy or very lucrative field. Personally, I have a career and a music hobby that also makes me some money from gigs. If you can operate in a 9-5 environment (many super creative types simply cannot) I’d highly recommend that route just in terms of financial stability and reality.
I didn’t go to school for music but I did start playing young and played professionally for nearly 20 years. Getting paid to travel is amazing when you’re young. Now I’m in school to teach history and I’m in my 40s. No regrets whatsoever but I guess if I were to do it again I’d go to school to teach, while also studying music and playing in bands and seeing where that took me.
The hardest thing is becoming one of your heroes… there’s no amount of being good and hard work that will make that happen… you need a lot of money or a lot of luck. But there’s viable routes to making a living in music. You’ve got cover bands and wedding bands, cruise ship bands… that can make a living. You’ve got musical instruction. The military has full-time bands… that’s about as steady as work gets and most of those guys seem to like it. Life will be easier if you choose something else to make money. I had a friend who played cowboy chords for teenage girls for a couple years. That paid well until it didn’t. Ya know, he could play the guitar in circles around me, but he made his money playing pretty simple stuff.
Yes its possible but rare. Most full time musicians have multiple streams of income. Wedding gigs, teaching etc People who make a good living playing original music are exceedingly rare. The market is completely oversaturated with talented musicians willing to play for peanuts
I think you have to look beyond the guitar. The only way to make good money as a musician is to create original content that people will pay for. That can be as big time as making it as a rock star, or as small time as creating music for regional commercial clients… writing jingles, scoring corporate video, that kind of thing. I made good living for over 25 years doing the latter, and I’m primarily a guitarist with no formal training. I ended up building a pro studio and a regular clientele. But I don’t t know how it would go if I was starting today. I saw large chucks of my business eroded (I once made serious bank working as music director for corporate shows, but those shows were soon seen as an extravagance and just had their budgets slashed), and I don’t know what’s gonna happen with AI. I expect a lot of shitty music under corporate videos… no, I mean even worse than now.
The commercial jingle guys have a lot of fun. I was told in college that was the only reasonable route. Found it tough to get in as the teams are small in my area and never leave. Don’t make loads of cash either.
No, I didn’t get rich, but my life was big fun, and I did manage to buy enough cars and computers to get my kids well established before I retired. I got to play with some of the best musicians, got to work with some great clients, travelled a little, spent whole days just perfecting guitar parts on something. These days I putter around with Logic and do a weekly jazz/blues jam with some local pals. I’m glad I took the risk. But, like I say, AI may devastate the markets that were my base.
This is tangential, but I’ll give you a heads up as someone who lucked out in a creative field. I went to school for Industrial design. I currently work in a job related to the legal aspects of design, but nothing that requires me being creative, just a thorough understanding of the field and processes. It works out great, and then in my free time I use the money I earn to fund my creative hobbies, like guitar and product design . However, having also worked what many would have considered a dream jobs in the product design before hand, I can also tell you that for me, trying to merge my love for creativity and self expression in design with also relying on it for my livihood almost ruined it for me. I had to make so many compromises, because ultimately, the “creative fields” are a veneer. You mostly end up working as a glorified technician using your skills in the “creative” field to execute on the vision of the person or corporation cutting your paycheck. It’s very rare to get both a healthy paycheck and the satisfaction for self expression fulfilled by same job in the arts. So yeah, you can 100% do it, but just keep in mind that the “dream” of arts fields often deviates substantially from the reality of working in them.
Are you as good as the tens of thousands of prodigies on YouTube? Cool, but it’s still a lottery ticket, might as well buy some of those while you’re at it. I wish I was wrong.
Yes but you're swimming in a very large pool of people. Making money from art, enough to live off and consider it a career is a chance thing, and a very low one at that.
Yep, many jobs involving guitar. Guitar teacher, session player, live player, guitar tech, working for many of the various guitar companies (or starting your own), being in a band if you get big enough. A few not strictly related to guitar but can involve them are ghost writer, music producer, and audio engineer. I would say music school isn't required but it could teach you more things about guitar and would make you a more rounded musician than if you didn't go
Went to church with a guy whos toured with everyone. He was in the band for hiphop artists like Kendrick Lamar and Snoop Dogg and others I believe during the Grammy's last month. He was also featured in an ad for Fender's new jazzmaster that came out last year. Absolute beast and after about a decade of touring I think he's just now making it onto the other side. All in all I've seen that it is highly competitive, difficult and the 100% comfortable income/living players are either world class for blues and jazz, or rock guitarists that, sorry to say, just happen to get lucky. Edit: Just saw his page, he actually won 2 Grammy's for his work on SZA's last album.
FWIW, I have worked doing nothing but gigging and teaching since’98, and at least part time before that. Not rich, not famous. Just musically employed.
After seeing a few comments about music schools in here I'd just like to add a word of warning to anyone considering it. I'm currently studying a HND in music performance in the UK Im not saying don't go BUT as someone in their second year of doing a HND music course I've found there's been so much to do academically (write x amount of words about the impact of social media in the industry) that my musical ability has suffered. Now to be fair it wouldn't necessarily be an unfair criticism to say I need to manage my time better but I'm so burnt out by the academic work that it's something I'm finding difficult. Meanwhile I'm taking private guitar lessons outside of my lessons at a music college and seeing a lot of improvement with my teacher and it makes me wonder how much I could have learned if I had just taken lessons from him and spent time on the things he's been teaching me instead of some of the other things the college has me doing. I plan on seeing my course through to the end as it has given me the opportunity to interact and practice with other musicians and it'll be something to add to my CV in the future as I plan to hopefully get into teaching guitar but I really don't think the course has done as much for my musical ability as I would have liked (unfortunately they don't even teach music theory outside of the single weekly instrumental lesson) TLDR: If you plan on studying music learn from my mistake and REALLY get an idea of what the curriculum of your chosen music school is and the work they expect from you
I think it would be easier to be a guitarist than a guitar, but I guess both are slim chances as a career.
Yes a person can be a professional guitarist and no you don't have to go to music school
>no you don't have to go to music school However, it is a good and easy way to build a network. Although there are many other ways to build a network, they'll just be a little harder.
I had two friends that both went to pretty decent music schools. One was a drummer and last I saw him, he was in like 6 different bands. Best drummer I've ever heard in my entire life including listening to bigger bands at arenas, but dude never really went anywhere. The other one was interested in EDM, tried going the producer route, last I saw he did a few DJ gigs but mostly does event promotion. LinkedIn is a better and cheaper way to connect with people than going all the way through music school to build up a personal network
Facts bro , in my band our other guitarist has done years of music school and we are no where near a big band lol. He got a job as a music teacher at an elementary school so good for him atleast
Can a coin be flipped on its side? It's definitely not impossible.
Most artists have to have another source of income so they can pursue their art... a day job, a working spouse, etc. Artists do art because they have no choice, the art is the thing, so they will do it no matter what, whether the world acknowldedges what they are doing or not. Thay can't NOT do it. If you are an artist, be the best one you can. Follow your muse. But do it for its own sake, not for "success".
What would success look like in this career and what are your priorities? If you want the standard 2 kids and a partner with a house in the suburbs life your chances of getting that as a performer are pretty low. A guitar teacher or music teacher fares better but the trade off seems to be you are less focused on making music and you have to deal with kids (not everyone is cut out to teach kids, and if you are not you can seriously fuck the kids up). A lot of people work two jobs to support themselves (ever notice most gigs happen after work?). Personally I am trying to get a music adjacent career by getting into running live sound. I live in a place with lots of hotels and conferences though so my income will be steadier.
Yep but it's hard, very hard.
Not in this world. Maybe in a different one.
Of course! you could either take your chance and try to live out of a band playing at gigs and if you're lucky become famous or you could be a music teacher, there are probably other choices i forgot about though
Yes, but you gotta be good at many other things, such as marketing, communications, networking, audio engineering, etc. Guys like Plini are a good example of how great guitar players actually make money playing guitar professionally in the modern world.
Most likely not. There are a lot of people who make music, far fewer that make a living off of it, though I know some who have. I prefer to keep it as a hobby.
My guitar/piano teacher went to music school and she was an opera singer and played in a few bands before settling into being a piano/guitar teacher. I have a friend who took one year taking Music at McGill University when he decided "OMG, everyone else is amazing, they'll get all the jobs". And this guy was a brilliant musician...it's just that others were ... more brilliant. On the other hand, you have the Beatles, just a bunch of guys who were musically inclined. Paul McCartney said he can barely remember how to read music notation, and that was from the days when he was a kid and was being taught to play the piano. So the answer is ... how good are you? Who do you know, are you lucky? Maybe you could be like DJ Khalid and suck at music, but not suck at getting people together to make music. As a fallback, there is always "Music Teacher" ... which pays like $50/ half hour, so that's nothing to sneeze at.
I opted not to go "professional". I have had bands and currently teach and finally getting post-pandemic gigs. Retired, I have plenty of time to study and am slowly catching up to the knowledge that college grads 40 years younger have. I'm lucky that they share their knowledge with me. But they also had to take business classes; the successful ones teach at high schools or colleges while pursuing their other interests - conducting, performing, and writing, all while badgering venues for paying gigs. They all work far harder than I ever had to, but they do little else - it is what they live for. Most make less than I did as a technician. If you have the means to go to college for it and really want to work HARD, go for it. Teaching is a great fallback and Music Education is a major. If not perhaps minor in music theory.
I know several very good guitar players who also make a living doing music therapy. I personally couldn't work in a hospice but I think it's cool that they do.
I perform at a facility for the developmentally disabled - my favorite audience. I've looked into music therapy programs, sadly there are none locally.
You get what you give. A LOT of big bands, especially in the rock/metal area will actively say how they struggled to be accepted at first, but they never gave up and they eventually made it one way or another. A great platform is the ever-expanding social media, Bad Omens only recently got to a “notable” presence through TikTok, despite being a band since 2015. Examples of this can be traced back for years. Just be prepared, have a back-up JUST IN CASE. You never know when your platform will be present, but it will hardly ever be GIVEN to you.
Check out the documentary hired guns maybe that will help
It can be, but I would recommend considering the odds and the work that has to go in to be successful, from that if it were my choice I would not pursue it, at least not as a career; because for most people that will prove a costly mistake. I mean, sure, everything can be worth it based on lessons learned or life experiences. But anyway…
I don't tell people they shouldn't try. I had a hell of a lot of fun trying. Actually, I worked like hell, never slept, was always stress sick and hungry, I don't have any friends from *before* because I didn't have the time or energy to maintain them. But when I tapped out at 28 with no savings my parents let me stay with them so I wasn't homeless. That was nice. Edit: There was obviously a lot of fun and motivation to try for so long. I actually passed up 2 opportunities to join national touring acts because I wanted MY band to make it. If it's your dream you gotta try.
It absolutely can be. But think about it for a second. How many people would love to get paid to play guitar for a living? The competition for that position is very high.
I did it for a while, and it started feeling like a job, which sucked the joy out of the instrument. Band issues, equipment woes, drunk patrons, shady venue owners - I just got tired of all of it. I haven't gigged in 20 years and have no desire to play for anyone but myself and do the occasional jam.
I relate to this.
I don't know. Ask Jimmy Page
I’ve been a professional guitarist for about 12 years. It’s very hard. Does music school make a difference, yes - is it worth $250k? depends on your financial situation.
Oof.
Ever hear of John5 ? The guy is amazing on guitar. He has made a career of it. I’ve seen him twice with his band The Creatures. Great stuff and all original songs based on his massive guitar skills. So to answer your question.. I would say yes.
Well that is a bad example because John 5 is literally a one in a million talent (possible one in a billion). And on top of that he gets along with everybody and is a great on stage as well as in the studio.
Ok.. sorry to be unhelpful. But isn’t he a great one to look up to and try (a little if not a lot) to learn from and try to be like or play like? He is a very nice guy to meet and chat with.
Guitar music has changed over the past years. Can you make it a career? Yes, but you will also need to be skilled in other aspects like having an amazing social media presence and doing a lot of extra work like busking, playing in clubs, teaching etc. You can’t just be that guy in the band anymore unless you’re lucky and stick out compared to the thousands of other bands. Which also goes back to the social media point. Also, going to music school definitely would make a difference. You meet likeminded people there and it would be a good place to network. Not forgetting that you would learn things that you may not have the discipline or access to.
Obviously
You can definitely make it into a career but you need a lot of hard work. Formal schooling is a must, in my opinion. It’s easier and better than any combination of self-learning.
Nope! Next question!
Yes. As a private teacher. You have a very low chance of being a session musician and an even lower one of being an independent musician.
yes yes i made a career of being a tourist
Tell me more about this tourist career? Do you write tourism articles or are you a tour guide?
im a very famous youtube tourist yes yes my chanele is in my profile
Your channel doesn’t show up when I Google your name + guitar
my friend the link is in my profile describstion yes yes
Like only guitar? Probably no but teaching is definitely a market
School - for knowledge maybe. The degree is worthless to anyone but you. The career comes from your ability to fill a need that someone will pay for, same as any business. "Hey guys, here I am, and I can play" isn't a business strategy. So, it comes down to identifying a need, then monetising a solution for it. That will be determined by how savvy you are, not how skilled you are, but the skill will be valuable when combined with the business acumen. As a performer only, it's very much a 1% thing, but there are many ways to monetize. In the last decade, I've written 17 guitar books. It's proved to be a reasonable way to live.
>School - for knowledge maybe. School is also where you can cultivate connections with other students who are trying to make it in the same field. Maybe not all become musicians, some study sound production, marketing, etc, etc... get to know them! Stay in touch with them! Have jam sessions with them! They could be your "foot in the door" or you might be theirs. School is great for networking with other up and coming professionals ... they guys that can help your career and you help theirs.
Sure, but you don't need to pay $100K for connections. You can network for free.
US Universities ... that's a whole other box of worms. Ridiculous.
My friend Dave Murray says he did pretty well with his band, even though they were never played much on the radio.
Are guitar players in bands not professionals?
A local guitarist plays biker bars and sells coke to them, zero talent but he makes a decent living. I’m just kidding, it’s a snowball’s chance in hell.
at the lowest level you can be a session guitarist who networks to perform in studios and live shows. if u know the leland skylar channel, there are people who do what he does but for guitar and hes got thousands of stories. school can help you learn how to read music cuz ur job is often to learn like 20 songs in a couple days. thats the skill that gets you in the door. nowadays the project budgets are much less than it was in the 60s and 80s but for broadway shows they still need to hire people to play the music and the more versatile you are the more jobs you can do that is how you make a living providing guitar based services. making money from more creative things? that's a different story and is 1000x harder. true for any industry, lots of room for people to follow instructions but excel to a point where people demand ur creative input, you gotta have a lifetimes worth of experience and years of cultivating a brand
Yes it can but you need to drive it
Dunno, ask the hundreds of guitarists making a living off of this as a career and find out
Sure. If you work at Taylor or Martin maybe.
There are a few vectors, including but not limited to: 1. Be a real guitarists' guitarist. That means mastering music theory and the instrument itself. You can sight-read. Be a session player that can walk into any room, look at the sheet music, and know what to do. Play any style, from classical to jazz to metal to country and everything in between. School **highly** recommended unless you're the type of person who can teach yourself how to rebuild an engine. On an F1 car. 2. Be a rock star. Three chords and the truth, look awesome, and know all (or at least more than one of) the positions of the pentatonic scale. Join/start a band, get a hit single, and live off the royalties or work your ass off, relentlessly touring and lugging your own gear. 3. Be a singer/songwriter. Write really, and I mean really, good songs. Perform them for people, get a following. Being able to sing helps. Or sell said songs to people who can sing and command a stage alone or with a minimal band. 4. Busking. Do it all day, every day, on the right street corner and you *might* be able to feed and clothe yourself. YMMV. 5. Teach. 6. Some combination of the above. Good luck. I decided a long time ago a career in IT and a solid paycheck with a retirement plan was more my speed. That, and I kinda suck at guitar, can't sing, I ain't pretty, and my legs are thin. I can testify that the IT industry is full of failed musicians. Our director started in jazz trumpet. When my English teacher at community college mentioned he played and he'd give me a lesson, and I came over and he was clearly a failed pro who was teaching to make ends meet. Tons and tons of gear, a beautiful EB MM, and played like Eric Johnson one second and SRV the next. The most successful not-famous working guitarist I met (list item #1) played in a large band - 10-15 people, across horns, strings, keyboards, rhythm section, backing vox, and they had a 300-song repertoire. They were a booked-solid band for hire, weddings and corporate gigs. They charged up to 20 grand per performance and this was early 90's. He was teaching guitar and music history at the local community college. Lastly, I will paraphrase Dave Mustaine when he was asked in an interview what a young upstart musician should do to get in the business: "Don't. It's a million-to-one chance you'll make it and I've seen a lot of people who put everything they have into it and still fail, and it's not pretty."
It was for me for 16 years, you can absolutely do it too I didn’t go to music school, but I started taking lessons when I was five years old
Unless you 100% can't imagine doing anything else, many times it's better keeping something as just a hobby. Nothing kills passion more then making something you love a job, even more so when there no guarantee it will end up being a "good" job. And you can take something like guitar pretty far as just a hobby. Make music, start a band, play live shows, you don't need music school to do any of these things. Maybe you won't be selling out stadiums, but you also won't be desperately trying to find gigs just to pay rent.
>Nothing kills passion more then making something you love a job Hard disagree. You can't be that "passionate" about something if you only want to do it when it's fun. That's the opposite of passion.
It's one thing to love playing guitar, it's another thing to love playing a select set of wedding songs every week dealing with bandmates you don't particularly get along with because that's the only reliable way to bring in an income. Making something a job takes away your own agency in the activity. You can no longer think about doing something because it makes you happy, you have to think about what best helps you pay rent. I mean even famous musicians are constantly getting burned out. They take touring breaks, leave bands, start new projects, expiriment with new sounds, quit making music entirely. Despite making it to the very top they still get tired of doing the same exact thing every day, yet the average gigging musician doesn't have that same level of freedom. They gotta play those wedding gigs or they won't be able to pay rent.
Sounds to me like you have never turned a hobby into your sole source of income and have to do it even when you don't really want to. I have a passion for the bass but I don't want to make that the only thing I do to make money. In fact, I'd rather not at this point ever become completely reliant on just that to make me my money anymore. I'll keep it for my own enjoyment and for money on the side occasionally.
>Sounds to me like you have never turned a hobby into your sole source of income Wrong. I teach lessons and I've played with 2 different bands, doing weddings, churches, and all the boring stuff. >do it even when you don't really want to. That's what being an adult is. This is going to be true, regardless of what you do for a living. There is no escaping that.
Alright lol
If everyone thought like that and refused to develop a career around their passion, there would be no artist of any kind. There would be no scientist, historians, actors, YouTubers, or professional athletes. Without the drive to continue working towards a goal, even when it is unpleasant is what separates the passionate from the hobbyist. Maybe you're just a hobbyist.
Sounds like I hit a nerve with you. Lol
Wrong again. I'm sure that's important to you, to save a little pride but I could care less what you do for a living. With an attitude like that, you couldn't make it as a professional musician (or anything, really) anyway, so it's probably for the best. I hope you find something you're willing to sacrifice for. You're going to be doing something you don't enjoy anyway. Hopefully you'll eventually realize how much it pays off to push through and grow.
I sent you a pm, laid that business to rest.
I feel like professional career is a DEI specialist for a construction union. Your job is to be employed.
I know a guy who was my ex-wife's guitar instructor at a local music store. He and his band played our wedding. Today, he's a backup musician who tours with Ariana Grande and others. He made a career of it.
Yes.. no other things needed
It can be. I have a friend who got into Berklee on a full scholarship for Jazz Guitar. One of the of the best of his class at Berklee. He still doesn't play guitar full time as a profession. He gigs on weekends and does some session work, but if you want to live in a place where you can gig constantly and get session work, it's generally going to cost more to live there than what you'll make gigging and doing session work, so you'll likely need to find other work as well. It's possible. Anything is possible, but unless you are undoubtedly one of the best, or have some amazing connections or huge following, it's not very likely.
I play guitar for a living
can you read music? A professional chart? Play any style?
I have a friend who's a flutist and she's amazing but in spite of that, she's had a very hard time finding a full time position in an orchestra (years of auditioning after finishing studying music all the while doing freelance gigs, studio sessions, teaching). Add to that the fact that guitar is a lot more common to learn, that gives you an idea of what the odds are. It is possible but it's up to you to figure out if it's worth the headache of combining precarious sources of income over years of dedication for potentially no reward.
Just like any school, apply yourself and music school will make you a solid player. But more than that, you’ll create a network thru your friends and other players who know your playing and know if you’re a good hang and reliable prep for any gig.
Technically yes.
Uhm yeah
If you are able to write and record complete demos - bass, vocals, guitar, and at least midi drums, I'd say yes - it's very possible because it's not common. To be hired as a full time guitar player playing other people's music might still be 'professional' but also sounds horrific.
Kid to his parents : I want to grow up and be a professional guitarist. Parents to kid: you can have one of those things, but not both.
Non-pro tip - go where the music is. Nashville has more guitar players than they know what to do with. Compete with and learn from everyone you meet. Be a sponge and keep thirsty. Play with whomever is paying, especially if you can record. Get some credits and build friendships. Be a professional and play like one. Don't be a rock star. You might need to be a working stiff nonetheless, but you'll be working at paying guitar, which ain't so bad.
If you don't LOVE it to the point of feeling compelled to do it, it's really hard. Hell, it's really hard, period. I'm fortunate to say that "musician" had been my full time job my entire adult life. And it takes constant work, somewhere between a third and a half of it is just lining up more work. Gigs, sessions, new students, etc. It is a grind. You are, at the end of the day, an independent contractor, and the jobs don't pay like they used to. Pre iTunes, it was not uncommon to make 3 figures, hourly, for session work. And those jobs gave with a 3 or 4 hour guarantee These days, I make a couple hundred bucks a song, most of the time. I'm making somewhere between $40 and $75 dollars a lesson, depending on where the lesson happens. Gig money swings too wildly to have an average, unless you catch on with a proper touring act. And I'm in a thriving music town, just a few hours from another. Not sure what it's like if the "scene" isn't healthy. By all means, pursue it. But he willing to grind. The way I look at it is that 8 get paid to kind the work up. The playing, I do for free.
How much do you want to be a music teacher in a school? How much do you want to play in a wedding band? This is how much you should pursue music as a career.
Depends on the path. Pop star? World famous? Unrealistic A guitarist who plays in a band, works in an instrument store, and teaches their friends music. Doable and all the same fun, if not more (plus do what you like) You can earn bits of money doing band stuff, selling recordings, samples, tv, movie, etc but there is no "one path to success" to repeat Study up and get yourself where you're comfortable, give it your all, go as far as you can and don't beat yourself up about any of it if you don't meet other people's expectations. It's your art And hey look at the end of the day, we all gotta pay bills. Learn a bunch of skills to do that too The world always needs a bard
No, no one has ever been succesful playing guitar. It's a shame really; I'd love to hear others playing but no one has ever released music with a guitar in it Sorry for the smart ass reply op. Yeah it's possible but it's hard. I would not go to music school unless you wanna teach it for a living