Jobs as a guitar player aside from solo performing? PROFESSIONAL GUITAR PLAYERS PREFERABLY!?

Question

I am a good guitar player, and am a sophomore in high school. I am wondering what kind of jobs, like pit orchestras for musicals and backing bands, things of that nature are available for guitar players in the jazz/rock realm. I'd eventually want to teach guitar privately, but if I went to music school I'd like to know whats out there for me. Advice from professional guitar players would be best, but others can comment as well. What kind of musical training did you go through? Would you recommend music school? thanks

Answer 1

I agree with the above post, if you live in an area that has some recording studios you will do well working as a studio musician.... good ones are hard to come by!

Answer 2

Jobs For Guitar Players

Answer 3

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Answer 4

I would like to see you go to college and major in music....this would give you the back ground that you needed to do anything that you wanted to do !!! You could be a studio musician, a high shool or middle school music teacher, or you could open up your own studio and teach at home, I did this for years....and enjoyed it very much. Another thing that you could do is be "The Guitar Geek" and go to peoples homes and teach guitar. There's a variety of things that you could do...you just have to have the education to know what your doing.....good luck to you.....music to me = happiness...and to spend the rest of your life doing something that you love doesn't sound bad does it ? Just be prepared and get the right education....hope that this helped !!!!!!!! bye .

Answer 5

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Answer 6

Hi,

Good question. I strongly urge you to stay in school and pursue that option through a graduate degree if possible. You simply cannot loose with a good education. And I agree, Berkeley and GIT are very good choices. Few bad musicians graduate from those schools.

As far as what jobs are possible as a guitarist, here are a few suggestions:

Guitar Teacher - This is an opportunity to start your own business, set your own hours, and set your rates. Most musicians find teaching a very rewarding experience.

Music Retail - This is a great opportinity to betwork within the business. Many would roll their eyes at working in a music store, but much of this depends obviously on the store and the people you work with. But if you are a real hustler, you can do well with sales, have access to the latest equipment, and (hopefully) deep discounts on the gear you need. You will most often be interracting with other musicians, so you can spend your whole day networking. Talk to people, learn about what's going on; possible gigs, openings, etc... This is all up to you to make it a great opportunity.

Guitar Product Specialist - This is someone who works for a company that makes guitar products. Let's say you work for Digitech. The company has come out with a new digital guitar processor. It would be your responsibility to travel to music stores and demo that product. You might also do special in-store clinics to get youn players excited about that product. Of course if you are a great player with serious chops, you will really inspire other players to use this new digital guitar processor. For the right person, this could be an oppportunity to travel and meet new people, and show off your own great playing!

Guitar Music Transcriber - Ever notice how many instructional books, CDs and DVDs there are out there that teach you how to play a certain song or songs by a certain guitar player? Well, someone has to transcribe that music. If you stay in school (hint hint) and really build up your ear-training skills, you could be a world-class transcriber. In the process, you would develop a world-class repetoire of songs you know how to play.

Karaoke Production - Before you laugh; I once bumped into a friend who I had not seen in years. I asked him what he had been up to. He told me that he and his partner had started a business producing music for Karaoke companies. The companies tell him what songs they want, and he reproduces vocal-less versions of those songs. They great thing about this gig was that he and his partner set their own hours, and delivered everything their work via Fed-Ex (this was in the pre-internet days, so of course even better, you could probably use FTP to send your finished work over the internet) End result, you can work when it suits you and where you want, not keeping regular hours or having to punch a clock.

Club Date - Wedding Band - Party Band - Again, before you roll your eyes, think about this: Most musicians make between $50 and $150 a night doing gigs, with $150 being the high end of pay for a typical night of playing cover tunes, etc.. in a bar. This is non-union, no broadway work. Hard to get and low-paying. Well, the first time I did a club-date / Corporate EVent gig and got paid $500 for 2 hours of work, I was sold. Suddenly my un-realized dreams of playing along-side Jimmy Page at Madison Square Garden didn't matter so much.

In Summary, Look, We'd all love to be Rock Stars, but very very few get to enjoy that privilege. So, get over it and start making money. There are many many more opportunities for a guitarist to make a living. I struggled at first, not only financially, but also emotionally. I thought certain things weren't "Cool". Well, the sooner you get over that, the sooner you can count yourself among those who make their living holding a guitar. There is nothing wrong with having a day-job. We've all done it at some point. But if music is what you love, and you would prefer to make 100% of your living playing music, then relax, open up your mind, be flexible, and get ready to hustle. It ain't gonna be easy, and there are a lot of competition. But if you are smart, hungry, patient, focused and creative, then you can do it. Most important for now is to stay in school and make the most out of your education. So go to a good school, and keep the partying to a minimum. Try and really make those years at school count and you will have the tools you need to be a successful working musician. Good Luck!

Kevin Chisholm - American Guitarist

http://www.American-Guitarist.com

Answer 7

i play the guitar since i was 16 (now i am 32) and if you really look forward to do it professionally, then .....what about Studio Musician ? ...and you named it, Music schools need some really good teachers. The Berklee and GIT....thats everyone´s dream, as far as i am talking about me...anyway....

I would recommend you to try the GIT in Los Angeles or the Berklee College...though it is defenitely not easy at all to get there...but if you say, that you are good, then give yourself a try !

Good luck to you

Answer 8

Unfortunately I see an awful lot of guitar players working in music stores. The guy above is right. Education is one of the best answers.

Answer 9

I have a degree in music education. You're best bet when going to school for music is in education (be it teaching in a public school, college, or private lessons). You can also major in music performance (but playing professionally is VERY competitive)

Answer 10

i am young so i havent seen alot of the classics that i wish i could have. i saw two great guitarists, possibly the best two on the scene today, in one show. john petrucci of dream theater was unbelievable, shredding like crazy and playing everything note for note, even extending some solos. paul waggoner of between the buried and me was great, too. fantastic play and creative riffs and solos.

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