Re: On becoming a professional musician...

"Les Cargill" <lcargill@xxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:4c66026d$0$15772$9a6e19ea@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx


(Not that I am anywhere good enough to
think about it...)

Good's got nothing to do with it...

So true. Some of the best players I know in the local scene make their
money playing full time as sidemen in really terrible bands. They're good
not because they can outplay the bandleader, but because they can cover
things up and make the band sound better than the collection of players it's
composed of.
There are a lot of groups here in Portland who make good money and have
tons of work, but are not great musicians. Performance, connections,
promotion, and even name recognition all get them booked, and none of that
stuff requires chops.
Several full time pro players I know work secondary jobs either teaching
or engineering / recording. There are very few who pay their bills with
gigs alone.
-Jonathan


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