Let’s face it, if you want to make a living playing music, it’s a hustle. You’ve got to be a hustler, 24/7. You need to have skills that most musicians don’t, and you need to be ready and willing to use those skills anytime and anywhere to survive without a “real job”. Long hours, weird schedules, uncomfortable travel, weird musical situations, and never really knowing where your next paycheck is coming from after your current gig ends. That is the sacrifice a professional musician makes.
That being said, it ain’t all bad. Hopefully, you’ll be monetarily exploiting your musical skills in order to support the artistic pursuit of the music you would play for free. You should play the music you love SIMPLY for the love of it, and for no other reason. If you are lucky and work hard enough, you may be able to make a living playing your own music. But, there is nothing wrong with making a couple of bucks on the side by taking gigs outside of your main one.
There is virtually no money to be made playing original music on a regional level, and if you’re not careful, you could be famous for playing your own music, and still wind up dirt poor and in debt (watch any VH1 “Behind the Music” for countless examples). The music business is a series of obstacles and pitfalls for musical artists, and you should always be aware of that. However, the music business generates MASSIVE amounts of money. If the artists don’t see it, who does? The answer: Professionals.
Artists are paid from the royalties they make AFTER paying everyone else. Booking agents, engineers, producers, managers, lawyers, roadies, sound guys, and studio musicians/hired guns are paid in ADVANCE. If a label sinks a bunch of money into a band, the band makes ZERO DOLLARS until all of that money is repaid. Everyone else gets paid no matter what. Think about that.
“Studio Musician” or “Hired Gun” can mean a lot of things. It can be someone who is called in by a manager, engineer or producer to play as part of an artist’s studio or live backing band. Sometimes you get called in to “fix” tracks for a band who may have a member who isn’t delivering performances of a professional caliber. You may be called as a “fill in” for one or two gigs with an existing band who may have a member who is injured or has a scheduling problem. The key is to have a broad range of skills in a variety of styles, so you will be considered for as many opportunities as possible. But what skills are absolutely essential? Let’s discuss…
#1: RHYTHM
The importance of this cannot be overstated. Because of this, studio drummers are the busiest studio musicians. The ability to get solid grooves happening and get tracks that don’t require tons of ProTools fixing is invaluable. Paying a solid musician saves a producer time and money.
A large percentage of the time, studio work consists of replacing a part because a band member simply could not play in time. It is a sorely neglected skill. It’s great to be able to play crazy technical stuff, but most studio work is meat-and-potatoes rhythm section playing. The fundamentals of music are by far the most important and valuable assets you can bring to a session.
#2: Musical Knowledge
Most musicians are self taught, or have a very limited music education background. Most pros, however, have a solid understanding of practical music theory. The more music theory you understand, the wider variety of gigs you can play. In the studio, you will likely encounter a few different scenarios…
SIGHTREADING
This is the big daddy. If you can fluently sightread music, you have a MASSIVE advantage over other rock-based session players. The big, big money gigs (Vegas band, talk show house band, theater pit band, American Idol band, Celine Dion’s touring band, etc.) all require sightreading in real time. The material is diverse and challenging, and you need to be able to execute it flawlessly as soon as the music is in front of you.
READING CHARTS
Luckily for us non-fluent readers, there are plenty of gigs that don’t require sightreading. Reading a chart requires a basic understanding of music theory notation and symbols (for both pitch and rhythm). The best way to practice this is to work your way through tunes in “The Real Book”. “The Real Book” is a shorthand jazz musician’s reference for hundreds of jazz standards. Each page contains a basic skeleton for each song, including the melody in standard notation, the chords for each measure of the melody, and a rough guide of the arrangement.
NASHVILLE SYSTEM (ex. 3 & 4)
The Nashville Numbering System was developed as a musical shorthand system to facilitate being able to switch the key of a song without requiring a new chart to be written. Many vocalists need to adjust the key of certain songs they are performing to fit the range of their particular voice. The Nashville system converts chord names to their corresponding scale degree in the parent Major key (the numbers are always derived from the Major key, even when playing in the relative minor key). If you understand basic major scale based diatonic theory, this system is incredibly easy to use.
There are many references for sightreading out there, and I recommend picking one up (“Sight Reading for the Contemporary Guitarist” by Tom Dempsey, and Louis Bellson’s “Modern Reading Text in 4/4”) . Start slow, take your time, and become as proficient as you possibly can. Solidifying your theory knowledge is also very important. At the very minimum, you should under how chords and scales are constructed, and how chords function in a given key. The best method I have seen for really understanding this stuff thoroughly as it pertains to rock music is “Songwriting Secrets of the Beatles”, by Dominic Pedler. It starts very simply and goes all the way up to college level theory, using Beatles songs to illustrate each concept. This information is literally the key to an entirely new world of musical understanding, and the time you spend learning it will pay you back immeasurably.
#3: Versatility
“Great musicians have big ears”. This old saying refers to being familiar and comfortable playing many different styles of music. You never know what a session will call for, so make sure your rock, blues, metal, funk, r&b, country, jazz and experimental klezmer-prog chops are in good shape. Every style of music has a distinct feel, and being able to easily jump from one genre to another is a huge advantage.
Versatility also involves playing multiple instruments. If you are a bassist or guitarist, learn to play lap steel, dobro, mandolin, banjo, ukelele, and slide guitar in various tunings. Drummers should be proficient in all manner of Latin and hand percussion instruments. Keyboard players should be comfortable on a grand piano or on the latest synth workstation. All studio musicians should have at least basic skills on all common rock instruments. Also, LEARN TO SING HARMONIES. The more tracks you are capable of playing, the more work you get.
#4: Know Your History
If you are a bass player, and a producer says to you, “Give me sort of a James Jamerson feel on this track”, you damn sure better know who James Jamerson was. In the studio, the people paying you will often reference certain records or performers to point you in the direction of what they want. An encyclopedic knowledge of the important players on your particular instrument will allow you to zero in on how you should play to get a solid, usable performance. By the way, James Jamerson played bass on 95% of the Motown recordings from their golden era, and totally redefined the role of bass guitar in modern music.
#5: Know the Present and Future
Unfortunately, the modern music industry is very flavor-of-the-month and copycat. If a band has a big hit, the record companies scoop up as many bands as possible that sound similar, or push bands they already have to sound like the band that had a big hit.
After Motley Crue became stars, there was a label feeding frenzy on the Sunset Strip. Any band in spandex with AquaNet in their hair got a deal. Some of those bands were good (Guns’n’Roses), some were not (Slaughter, Warrant, Danger Danger, etc). The same thing happened in Seattle after Nirvana hit. It happens currently as well (The Killers, The Bravery, Franz Ferdinand, etc.).
If you want to work consistently, you should read music magazines to keep up on current trends. You should listen to the radio to hear what is getting airplay, and analyze what’s going on in the songs. Remember, you don’t do this stuff for fun, you do it to get more work. Also, check out lots of underground music so you can be ahead of the curve. What is underground today is mainstream tomorrow. Such is the way of the world.
#6: Know Your Equipment
Ultimately, you are responsible for sounding good in the studio. Never, EVER depend on the studio to have the equipment you need to give them what they want. Knowing how to get a wide variety of sounds out of your equipment is incredibly important.
Keyboard players need a high-tech 88 key workstation that has excellent piano and organ sounds, as well as the ability to model classic and futuristic synth sounds. Although you really only need one piece of equipment, you need to know how to operate it inside and out. Having a small collection of weird keyboards (Moogs, ‘80s Casios, circuit-bent stuff, etc.) for unique sounds certainly doesn’t hurt.
Drummers should bring a variety of cymbals, and a kick pedal they are comfortable on (preferably a double, just in case), with a multitude of different beaters. A small collection of various snare drums (wood, brass, steel, piccolo, etc.) is invaluable. You should bring a bunch of sticks (various sizes, nylon and wood tip), brushes, multi-rods, and mallets. A box of percussion and special effects like bongos, tambourines, chimes, bells, shakers, etc., is incredibly useful. Just open it up, and I guarantee you’ll be there for an extra couple of hours, raking in cash because you’re the only one who can shake a tambourine in time. Most importantly, bring a drum key and LEARN TO TUNE DRUMS. This is an incredibly important skill that is overlooked by virtually every drummer on the planet.
Bass players need to have essentially 2 sounds: Fender P-Bass and Fender Jazz Bass. Although it is certainly nice to have one of each, these days you can get an instrument that contains both P-Bass and Jazz Bass pickups. If you want to be really versatile, you should also have a fretless, an upright, something with active pickups, and a 5 string. A Rickenbacker and a Music Man wouldn’t hurt, either. For an amp, get a small portable combo, like an Ampeg B-15 Fliptop. It is by far the most recorded bass amp in the history of bass amps. Although it’s good to have an amp, chances are you’ll probably be recorded direct into the console, so buy an EXCELLENT direct box and quality cables. You’ll be glad you did.
Guitar players have by far the hardest job when it comes to recreating classic sounds and coming up with new ones. The guitar is the most widely used instrument in modern music, and the variation of its recorded sound is staggering. A studio guitarist needs to have the knowledge to get almost ANY sound from a limited amount of equipment. Let’s break it down…
GUITARS: There are 4 basic flavors of electric guitar. The Fender Strat, Fender Telecaster, Gibson Les Paul, and Gibson Les Paul/SG Special. Every electric guitar on Earth is variation on one of these themes. Luckily for us, 95% of a guitar’s sound is derived from the pickups, so you don’t need to spend a fortune to get all of the sounds.
Strats are used for the neck pickup and in-between pickup sounds. The bridge pickup generally goes unused because it is very bright and has no tone control. Telecasters have cutting, ballsy bridge pickups, but the neck pickup is muddy. Les Pauls have the fat, creamy bridge humbucker lead sound. LP and SG Specials have the grinding neck position P90. A very common way to cover all of this ground is to get a Strat with a bridge position Humbucker, and a Tele with a neck position P90. This gets you all the basic sounds in just 2 guitars.
For extra versatility, you should also have a high quality acoustic guitar with good electronics. If you really want to be prepared, get a Rickenbacker 12 string, a Danelectro or Supro for slide, a baritone, and something with a Floyd Rose tremolo.
AMPS: There are also 4 basic flavors of amps. The Fender Deluxe Reverb, Marshall JCM800, Vox AC30, and Mesa/Boogie Dual Rectifier. Having one of each is certainly a luxury, and it would be a real pain in the ass to haul all of that around. The most common solution is to get a good Fender Deluxe Reverb, or an equivalent clone. All the other sounds can be achieved with pedals through a Deluxe, but nothing can get that Fender sound except an amp with a Fender-style circuit
PEDALS: As mentioned above, pedals will be necessary with a Fender Deluxe Reverb to obtain the other commonly requested sounds. Research boutique pedal manufacturers such as Lovepedal, Pigtronix, Wampler, Keeley, Analogman, BJF, Mad Professor, etc., to find “Marshall-in-a-box”, “Vox-in-a-box”, and hi-gain pedals.
In addition to various distortion pedals, you will also need a variety of “special effects” pedals. These include fuzz, chorus, phaser, tremolo, flanger, octave, ring modulator, delay (digital and analog), wah-wah, rotary speaker (Leslie) simulator, and compression. There are literally INFINITE variations on all of these pedals, so do your research and find stuff that works well with your rig. It is also good to have some strange pedals (EHX HOG or MicroSynth, Pigtronix Mothership, Z-Vex stuff, etc.) to make some wild, unique sounds. www.proguitarshop.com is the largest mail-order pedal retailer in the world, and their website features hundreds of in-depth pedal demonstration videos. Their store also happens to be located at NW 10th and Glisan in the Pearl District, so you can actually go test out the stuff you see on their site.
#7: Network
If you want to get work, you have to catch the attention of the people who may hire you. Find out where all of the studios are in your town, and get to know the people who run them. Go to lots of shows, and try to meet as many musicians and soundguys as possible. Play out as much as possible, in as many different venues as possible. Fill in for a band whenever you can. Play on as many of your friends’ recordings as possible to begin building a resume. As your name gets out there, and you develop a body of work and experience that your potential employers can reference, the calls will start coming in.
#8: Be Prepared
Always show up with extra strings, picks, slides, cables, tubes, etc. Bring all necessary tools, as well. Time is money in the studio, and the quicker you can repair something if it goes wrong, the more valuable you are. Your instruments should always be properly set up and in top condition. The same thing applies with your amps and pedals. I HIGHLY recommend becoming proficient at basic equipment maintenance, such as basic guitar set up and wiring, basic soldering, and biasing a tube amp. You should also have a passive bypass box with a tuner output. That keeps the tuner’s electronics out of your signal path, yet you can check your tuning between every take. You will be thanked for it.
#9: Go to Where the Work is
There are 3 major recording centers in the U.S.: New York, Los Angeles, and Nashville. Vegas, Nashville, NYC and LA are also hotbeds for performing and touring bands. These cities are where the money is for a studio musician. Unfortunately, they are also where you have the most competition. Berklee is in Boston, so you are competing with Berklee guys in NYC. The Musician’s Institute is in Hollywood, so you’re competing against MI students in LA. The solution? Level the playing field by going to Berklee or MI. Vegas and Nashville are notoriously cutthroat, but having Berklee or MI on your resume definitely puts you at the top of the pile.
You can cut down on competition by working in a smaller urban center with a vibrant music scene, such as Portland, Seattle, Austin, Miami, etc. The jobs are fewer and don’t pay as well, but there are far less musicians competing for them.
#10: Be Cool
Just be polite and dependable. You will be amazed how far common courtesy will get you in life. Musicians, for some unknown reason, seem to be lacking the common sense to just be nice and show up on time. If you can consistently show these traits, you will get work before other players who might be more skilled than you are. Nobody wants to deal with a pain in the ass. Here is a short list of how to behave in the studio…
1. Show up early, with all your gear neatly organized and ready.
2. Be polite and cheerful.
3. Never complain.
4. Keep your opinion to yourself, unless it is asked for.
5. Stay focused.
6. Work quickly.
7. Say “Please” and “Thank You”
8. Don’t ever show nervousness or frustration.
9. Think before you speak.
10. Don’t be a dick.
Really, that is about it. If you follow all these rules while laying down solid tracks, you will get repeat business, and referrals for more work. Everybody knows everybody in most music scenes, so your reputation is very important.
In Summary…
Like I said before, making a living as a musician is a hustle. It’s not easy, but it beats diggin’ a ditch or flippin’ burgers. Most pros still need to supplement their income from time to time, so a wide variety of music related skills will help you pay your rent. If you develop a lot of knowledge about your gear (which you should), you can work part time in a music store. You’ll get a discount, and you’ll also be able to network there. If you get good at repairing your gear (which you should), you can earn extra cash by fixing gear for your friends. If you educate yourself on the fundamentals of music (which you should), you can pick up some students (although teaching isn’t for everyone). If you learn to do live sound for your band, you can do it for your friends’ bands. There are many, many music related occupations that will help you avoid the dreaded “real job”. If you can handle the wildness and unpredictability of being a pro musician, it is definitely an exciting life. Good luck to all of you!
STUDIO PLAYERS TO RESEARCH…
Guitarists… Drummers…
Larry Carlton Bernard Purdie
Tommy Tedesco Vinnie Colaiuta
Steve Lukather Kenny Aronoff
Nile Rogers Josh Freese
Ray Parker, Jr. Abe Laboriel, Jr.
Carlos Alomar Joey Waronker
Earl Slick Jeff Porcaro
Jeff “Skunk” Baxter
Rafael Moreira Keyboardists…
Andy Aledort
Jimmy Page Don Airey
Steve Cropper Nicky Hopkins
Chet Atkins Billy Preston
Brent Mason Ian McLagan
Booker T. Jones
Bassists… Benmont Tench
James Jamerson
Bootsy Collins
Chuck Rainey Please watch “Standing in the Shadows
Donald “Duck” Dunn of Motown”.
John Paul Jones
Carol Kay
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