Becoming a "Musician"

Edja

How do they do it? These people that are backing singers and backing players....like lets say for example, Paul Brady is touring the country with a guitarist and backing singer, and a piano player....who are these people? How do they get to become Paul Bradys (just using him as an example oK!!) backing guitarist and piano player!? I'd love to do that! I don't want the fame at all!!:D

Maccattack

Two things mainly.

Talent and luck.

right place at the right time and having the right contacts help as well.

Royale with Cheese

Yeah I'd actually like to know this also. How does somebody become a serious paid musician? I reckon I'm good enough to tour with somebody, have plenty of gigging experience and musical knowledge in general. Once I finish college (Music degree) I will definitely look into it.

Maccattack

Like I said. You need contacts.

You need to get as much experience as you can. playing live with as many different type of bands as possible.

Offer your services to as many people as you can. Make friends with as many musicians as you can. Cut a demo. Hand it out to as many muso's as you can.

Get a Bio to hand around as well. TELL people you are keen to do session work.

Apart from learning your craft as a muso also learn how to deal with people. become a people person, be easy going.

Build up a rep for being good to work with. Work hard. If you want it, you can have it.

Edja

Thanks lads!! Just wondering Macattack, and don't take this the wrong way, but how do you know so much about it?

Maccattack

Learned from my mistakes basically.

All of that is what I should have done when i was young.

Instead i played in one band only and wouldnt play with anyone else.

When my band failed due to the singers drug habit I didnt play for about 10 years.

Ive since recently changed instruments and kinda - not really - regretting not following my heart earlier in life. Instead of 'paying my dues' in the music industry. I followed the business path (regular job), mainly out of neccessity i suppose.

I had to fend for myself very early in life and playing in pubs wasnt going to get me out of the dead end life i had as a teenager.

At the time I thought i knew myself well enough to think that i could never settle for anything less than world stardom, when in reality now Id be very happy cutting a living out of the pub and club circuit.

These days i have a family so the best i can really hope for is the odd gig here and there. I have ambitions to cut a few records and believe that will happen. Whether they ever sell or not is another thing entirely, but what i know is that its something i have to do. For myself. because if i dont then i really will have regrets.

Music has been my passion for as long as i can remember. So if i know anything at all about how to be successful it is by not being so. If that makes sense.

Learning about the business has just come naturally. All through my working life I have found myself putting more effort into finding out how the music business works, hw records are made, what producers do, how to engineer,etc etc etc.

Ive asked all the questions you guys are asking now.

Besides that its reallyu quite logical. Music is like any other business. You need a network of people to be succesful. no one is an island. you cant do it alone.

Make as many friends as you can but above all else.

BELIEVE IN YOURSELF. Dont let anyone drag you down.

Looking back, I had no mentor, no one to tell me I was any good or that I could achieve things in life. I've been succesful in work, I have a beautiful wife and two georgeous kids.

Who's to say that if i didnt put the same effort in to music when i was young i wouldnt have made it?

I wouldnt change it now. No way would i give up what i have.

But if you are just starting out and think yo have the potential. Then i say GO FO IT.




BTW. This book comes recommended often

Royale with Cheese

Thanks for the advice man. Yeah I think I'm going to start playing as much and as often as possible when I finish my degree. I've only ever played in one band but (this will sound fairly arrogant) they're kinda holding me back. I play bass which isn't the hardest thing in the world to do but I consider myself to have a very good ear for music and know what's good and bad. We're going absolutely nowhere. I feel I need to get out and play with better musicians for my own sake. I've also played piano for about 15 years so I'm not too bad at that either. Also I write music (no lyrics unfortunately) and feel I can offer alot to a band's songwriting process. I would prefer to join a band proper so I can showcase some of my creative side, but even just playing live for a bit of cash would be nice.

Maccattack

There you go. You almost appologised for being good!


You need to link up with some a lyricist or two. Get your name on as many credits as you can. set up a website with all your details.

Experience
Skills
Dreams etc...

Edja

Crikey! Well, fair play to you firstly on your wife and kids! Thats what life is really all about if you ask me!
I'm half way to that point...working in an office with lilac walls and no windows, from the heart of the countryside and used to working outdoors.....32, wife, mortgage, no kids, going nowhere in business as I have no interest whatsoever.....I have 2 interests - the land and Music!!

I have a " very good" voice and am a "very good" guitarist, and I have "great" ear....taught myself guitar, and on my first try, landed the lead role in the local Musical Society 2 years in a row (had never ever set foot on a stage or gigged ever before that and that was only 2 years ago)...but I don't consider myself a "great" guitarist, or a "great" singer, just very good... I don't mean to sound like I am boasting, cos I am not,.....just trying to build myself up...I don't think I have the "greatness" to get into the music industry....I'm talented, but not that talented, if you know what I mean...

Maccattack

Greatness??

Who are you comparing yourself to?

Unfortunately/fortunately greatness isnt necessarily a pre-requisite.

Just look at the charts. I havent seen greatness in there for a long long time. Some very mediocre talents are making a fortune from the charts.

Being 'very good' could carry you a hell of a long way.

Did you happen to watch the Rock Star INXS series? The guy who won that was a very average singer IMO, but he was in the right place at the right time and he pushed himself to win. Thats what its about.

clay

Maccattack, have you ever considered managing? Sounds like you'd be really good...

Maccattack

ha ha. yeah i thought about it the odd time i suppose. dont know if i ever would though.

Edja

Mac, he's right....you had me going gusto yesterday to go home and play me guitar, until I got there and realised I wasn't as good as I thought I was!!!!

Maccattack

Edja

I think we all have those days. Have you been away from the guitar for a while? You need to be consistant in yr practice dont you.

I had rehearsal last night and it went pretty well. probably the best in a long time. i reckon it was because we practiced a bit on sunday so it was a bit more ingrained.

you should at the very least pick up your guitar every day. even if you only paly for 5 minutes. obviously a 2 hour practice will be better but you cant always do that.

Edja

Nah, do a good bit almost every night.....usually at least an hour.... just feel quite inadequate at times, like I have reached a limit in my capabilities and I don't know how to go on any further, if you know what I mean!:rolleyes:

Maccattack

totally. i suck gonads on guitar. I try to play every day but cant always. At least im not in a rut though. I suck because i suck.

Edja

Well, maybe I have an inflated opinion of myself!! You see, I don't really know any other guitar players as such, or ones that I really consider excellent guitarists, so I have nothing to compare myself against.... Maybe I suck gonads too!!!:o

Brother A

Ok, how about you record a track of your playing and put it online. Then everyone can tell you how cr*p you are.

Edja

I would, but I don't have any way to do it!!! Don't have a PC at home for a start....I'm in work at the mo!! Trust me so, I am quite average then!

stas

Maccattack, what age are you? I mean why do you think it is too late now?

It wasn't me!

I agree. I'm going to go for this hell for leather. I need a band at the moment but this really is what I intend to do with my life. I'm a mediocre guitaris, I can't sing, but I have better ideas than what I can play, and I think that's a start. Whatever age you are, do what you want to, what you need to to be fulfilled. You'll never have a second chance to make your life what you want it to be.

Maccattack

Stas. Im nearly 40.

I think its too late for me because I have big commitments. Primaraly my two kids. Both are very young (under 10).

My wife and I are commited to giving them the best upbringing we possibly can. As a result the bulk of my spare time is spent running around after them.

I do get some time to work on music. I have one nght a week where myself and my (my:) ) bass player get together and practice my tunes. I also sneak anywhere between 2 minutes and an hour in the evening before i go to bed running through stuff and practicing bits and pieces.

At the moment i honestly dont have the time to go full on. My kids come first. They are both learnng instruments so that is a big priority.

I know i will have more time in a few years so I nhave that to look forward too.

But I dont ever expect much to come of it now. Rock and roll is a young persons game unless youre established.

I spent years at the hard slog. I really dont think i could juggle that with my life as it is at the moment.

It wasn't me!

Well man, I wish for your sake you'd gone for it. I know this sounds harsh, but you're the prototype of how I don't want my life to turn out. That sounds insulting, but please don't take it as such. I want to make all the opposite decisions to you and not fall into the trap, which I imagine will be very difficult to avoid, of the conventional job route. Sorry if anything I said there inflames you man. I hope not.

Brother A

Harsh dude,
Sometimes even if you make the 'right' decisions you still might not make it to be a total megastar or something.
I'd say appreciate the good things you have got, and then wherever you get to in music, you won't end up with regrets, like many do, for not enjoying what happened along the way.

Maccattack

It wasn't me! wrote:

Well man, I wish for your sake you'd gone for it. I know this sounds harsh, but you're the prototype of how I don't want my life to turn out. That sounds insulting, but please don't take it as such. I want to make all the opposite decisions to you and not fall into the trap, which I imagine will be very difficult to avoid, of the conventional job route. Sorry if anything I said there inflames you man. I hope not.

No offence taken. I dont want you to make the same mistakes either! Thats why Ive said all Ive said here.

My band could have made it. The singer/guitarist/songrwiter still sends me stuff regularly. Most of it is brilliant. His problem though is that he cant get off the hooch. He is a wasted talent. A lot of the songs we used to do 20 years ago still rate among my all time favourites. A terrible waste.

If you have the talent I urge you to believe in yourself. Its a different world now. So much can be done independantly. The world really is your oyster.

It wasn't me!

Not so much that I ahve talent, more ambtion and dedication than anything else to be honest man. I'm going to go for it though.

Shane Smith

It wasn't me! wrote:

you're the prototype of how I don't want my life to turn out. That sounds insulting, but please don't take it as such. I want to make all the opposite decisions to you and not fall into the trap

:eek::eek::eek:

Macattack you took that well. I mean you're only 40 man, John Lee Hooker was an old man by the time the world even knew who he was now he's another legend in the grave.

Don't mind all that age b****** a good musician ages like a fine wine, you may have to pass up that dream of being in a boyband though

(or maybe there's a market for a new older version of boyzone in which case ur in luck...oh, looouuuis!)

It wasn't me!

I know it must ahve sounded insulting, but I'd really like to emphasise that i didn't intend it as such. I hate to see a talented musician waste what he's got. I only hope I can get the ideas I ahve in my head on record without wasting anything of them.

Maccattack

Im not 40 yet!! Im 38. Though if you met me you'd think I was in my twenties.


Im not saying it cant be done. But I do believe if you seriously want a career in music a lot of other things have to suffer. Especially if you are in the position I am.. I couldnt be out gigging all over the place leaving my kids at home. I just cant. Dont want to sound like Im trying to be the wise old man here but when your kids are born your life changes - or at least it should.

I made an internal commitment to put them first above everything else.

I wouldnt change it. The rewards are enormous. I get a huge laugh out of them, even though most of the time they drive me nuts.

And anyway, I still do a bit. I have a small 16 track set up in one of the rooms of the house. Soon to build a studio in the backyard all going well. and I have one night a week with a bass player where we work on my songs and other bits and pieces.

I WILL record an album in the future. First I have to improve as a guitarist (I was a drummer in a former life).

You are right though. No Boyzone for me. Meet....


MANZONE!

er maybe not.

DrummerBoy

Maccattack wrote:

Im not saying it cant be done. But I do believe if you seriously want a career in music a lot of other things have to suffer. Especially if you are in the position I am.. I couldnt be out gigging all over the place leaving my kids at home. I just cant. Dont want to sound like Im trying to be the wise old man here but when your kids are born your life changes - or at least it should.

I made an internal commitment to put them first above everything else.

I wouldnt change it. The rewards are enormous. I get a huge laugh out of them, even though most of the time they drive me nuts.

That comment alone deserves a huge amount of respect.