Posted on 03/13/2016 3:38:53 PM PDT by taxcontrol
My son is 16 and is a fairly good musician. He started with clarinet, then moved to Sax and is really good at sax. From that experience, he is very good at reading music and music theory. For the past couple of years he has also been investing in the guitar and is now at the point that he is not benefiting from his high school program.
We have been sending him to private tutors and he is now studying Satriani, Yes, Van Halen, Yngwie Malmsteen's arpeggios from hell, and to my untrained ear doing very well. The boy gets his talent from his mom's side 'cause I have zero music tallent. He is doing well enough that we have changed his after school program and now he is starting with an after school program that will get him to concert venues.
The problem that I am experiencing is that I do not know the music profession and do not know 1) how good he is, 2) what his next move / education should be.
Do we try to get him to a music college after he finishes HighSchool? Do we try to get into a cover band? He is writing and composing his own songs so ... do we try to get his work out there?
Any Freeper musicians that are professionals that can give some good advice?
No doubt.
I have ventured into to jazz as I have gotten older, and I look up many solo, chord melody type players for songs I want to learn. There are phenomenal players out there on YouTube.
A lot of music springs up from the place BETWEEN a player and othets. At minimum get out and play play play with others.
Virtuosity facilitates this, it is not an end in itself.
Great advice to Dad & his son. You said it much better than I tried earlier. The difference in experience & perspective between an amateur (me) and a pro (you). Also recommended Musicians Institute for advice. Believe Nashville a good place to be, in addition to LA, NYC, or London. Perhaps not for more serious rock, but other contemporary forms...well beyond country now. He/they could find so many producers, artists/musicians, songwriters, coaches, music companies, performance venues. Also, I would encourage him/them to seek out members of The Players in Nashville or The Swampers in Muscle Shoals. They’re still at it doing recording sessions and producing young artists, and they’ve worked with a who’s who in music for decades.
I’ve made a living as a guitarist for over 12 years now and believe me I never thought I would make a dime. Luck is a big part of it and who you throw in with. Tell him to be social, play with people who he can learn from, record record record record record at home all the time (get some software, he probably already has some, like protools or logic and produce his own stuff.) I agree with what someone else said, write songs and (again) record them at home without RELYING on anyone else i.e. wasting money in a studio. It would be best to live in either LA, Nashville, New York etc. if possible. Always be on time, always be eager and auditions are very healthy, some he may fail but it will lead to things…..and if I think of anything else I’ll add it.
Successful professional musicians almost always have to make a career from many parts - performance, session work, teaching, their own creative work or band, etc. Few artists of any sort are lucky enough to strike it rich and end up a top tier touring and recording act.
So skills like being able to put together a band that can play weddings, or being able to sit down and play from music instantly are essential. So is being able to write music. A lot of the key skills can be learned from private teachers, but if you can afford it study at a college like Berklee will really accelerate the process.
10,000 hours.
PS< don’t waste a lot of money on gear, one good guitar and one mid sized amp and a few classic effects are all he needs, people (wannabes) always talk about the gear and waste money, NO ONE CARES! No need to spend more than 700 bucks on a guitar, just find a classic one that plays well and keeps tune well.
ps again, I agree with someone here who said get a musical education, I didn’t get one but I should have, it on;y helps and he will meet lots of musicians. The only problem I have with education is the price is so ridiculous. If the money is an issue in that sense better spent on the software and home recording. If he masters home recording (which entails all the elements of production) he will be far ahead of peers his age. Can’t stress that part enough.
There’s this crossroads down in Mississippi, out highway 61, just below Dockery’s old plantation. Go there ‘round midnight, and wait...
The best sax player I know attributed it to taking a hit of acid every day and playing in a closet for 8 hours straight for years.
I kid you not. He opened for Anthony Braxton once, who said “Never put me on a stage with him again.” He was that good.
It probably only worked for him.
Of course when I met him we were both supporting ourselves working in a bike shop.
He did later go back to school and become a trauma nurse, and upon retiring now plays in several bars in D.C. He did tone down his style, since for a while he made Ornette Coleman sound like elevator music.
“Take a close look at Berklee College of Music.”
$60,000/ year.
Private study means you can eat, too!
Seriously, for performance study, not a great idea.
The real benefit from places like that come when you are qualified to graduate when you apply. NETWORK.
10,000 hours.
………….
True, I forgot to mention that part…the man hours simply can’t be avoided.
Agree with the advice on locale. If you’re in a place where there’s not much going on musically because of the city/town size it makes it more difficult.
Hey Taxcontrol!
I would like to invite your son to check out Wikiloops.com
We are very good musicians from all around the world who are also into home recording.
He would need to be able to download an MP3, add his part, then reupload.
I cannot stress how addictive, fun and awesome it is to play with people from around the world.
I invite him to check it out...its 100%free BUT I guarantee he will be addicted and want to upgrade everything.
It is all styles and say a drummer uploads a track. Then a bassist will jump on , then a guitarist...and you can go back and maybe replace the guitar player with your part. So one song might evolve into 30 different versions .
BEst site on the internet hands down for going professional and playing with high level musicians.
Please have him check it out.
Heres a sample: http://www.wikiloops.com/backingtrack-jam-67083.php
Right on! I might add... if he decides to major in music, insist that he minor in education. I have too many friends with degrees in performance who are giving private lessons because they are not qualified to take over the high school orchestra. Best definition of a working musician I’ve heard is a guy who will put $10,000 worth of equipment into a thousand dollar car to play a hundred dollar gig... something I do about twice a month.
Jimmy Page, Tony Iommi, Dire Straits, Hendrix etc. Simple is best. I don’t know how relevant Malmsteen is now that the 80’s are gone but the other guys I mentioned will always be relevant.
I attended another music school in Boston and am a bit skeptical about Berklee. I remember it as teaming with thousands of guitarists - most of them just hanging out in the halls practicing licks and not doing much else. I sure as heck wouldn’t take out student loans to go there, or any other music school for that matter.
If you can afford it Berklee could be a good place to learn and network, but I think it would be smarter to find some way to study in L.A., New York or Nashville, depending on what your focus is.
>> people in Japan actually pay jazz musicians <<
Yeah, but when I visited there, the Filipinos seemed to dominate the jazz market, at least in the big hotel lounges. Ditto for Hong Kong, Singapore and other Asian locales. What’s more, those ex-pat Filipino musicians are extremely talented. They can perform equally well with just about any variety of jazz, rock, American pop, Latin music or whatever.
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