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?
Have him learn plumbing on the side. After Trump is elected, there will be a MASSIVE SHORTAGE of plumbers and other skilled tradesmen. He can write his own ticket at that point.
Sounds like a fun ride. Form a band, turn some heads. Be advised, I don’t know much either.
Write songs. That’s where the money is.
Be in a band is fine.
It is a drug (and worse) saturated business. Be warned.
He needs to look for a good group of contemporaries, form a band, or join a band, and go for it. But, the key to success is to write his or their own songs. And writing great ones isn’t easy to do. It’s also hard to make money on music in the digital age.
Hopefully, if he is that good he can be discovered by a record exec. This is is almost 100% being at the right place at the right time and being heard by the right person.
It can be done. And it can be very disappointing.
Ditto the sentiment about learning a craft. The digital era can’t take the job away.
Plumbing can be hard on the hands, man.
Congratulations on your son’s ability.
However, I quibble with him going after Satriani, Van Halen, and Malmsteen.
The best guitarists say more with less. Tell him to study Vaughn.
Not Stevie Ray. His brother Jimmy.
And, he really needs to have his head on straight and a clear understanding of what morality to have. If he doesn’t have that, he is likely to end up in big time trouble.
Record a B.B. King Tribute and post it to youtube.
If he can, no band would ever turn him down.
If he wants to do that for a living, it is time to introduce the facts of financial life.
My daughter came home and told us she wanted to be a potter. I recall asking her teachers, off to the side once, “Is she really THAT good?”
I guess she was.
Then she won a huge art contest in Boston. Then she got into one of the best schools for that. Then she worked her ass FR for four years (trust me, Art School sounds easy, but they get you prepared for not only the art, but the constant criticism.). And we made sure she got out of school with minimal debt.
Now she is doing an artist in residence program. She hasn’t asked for money in a couple of months...so she is making it.
So, my advice is to have a sit down with his teachers and ask them...is he that good? Is he in a band? Is he asked to perform?
Musical talent is something that can make him a good weekend income. But, just as I could not judge ceramics, you should ask people that “know.” And if he is serious, music and art school get you so immersed in the art, he will know very quickly if it is for him. Think about doing something you think you enjoy. Every day. Seven days a week. For four years. That is art school.
And, my daughter met her boyfriend in art school. He is an amazing potter. His mugs sell for $40. I get mine for free. But artists don’t have to starve. But when they do, it’s good to have some related degree and low debt.
Artists are not all weirdos. But they have above average drama. Good luck.
Dirty, also.
Good for him! I love RUSH, and think Alex Lifeson is one of the best. I also like them for their strong work ethic and fairly clean living. Lifeson was married at a very young age (and still is to the same gal).
I have heard interviews by RUSH where they are trying different ways of generating money, and helping new groups develop too. They say that in this new digital age it is really difficult for a new band to make any money on just their songs.
Good luck!
Dirt washes off. You can mess up joints, get infected cuts. It’s been my experience that gifted musicians aren’t big on crawlspaces or septic tanks.
I am writing this reply surrounded by several top-shelf Gibson and Fender guitars and Marshall amplifiers. The good stuff. Expensive. And these instruments will never see a lighted stage. Never earn for me one penny. I put my rock star dreams to rest a long time ago.
Here's the sad truth. The type of music that requires the above level of technical proficiency just isn't popular anymore. Not to say they're aren't bands playing it, great bands, but he's not going to make any money. For that matter, he's not going to make much money at all in the music business. Those days are gone. Even popular bands are barely scraping by financially.
This being said, there's few greater rushes than playing live music. He's young, few responsibilities, he should go out and have fun. You can only live the rock star dream while you're young. He's got the whole rest of his life to be a responsible adult.
It’s all about WHO he meets. Which may mean his relocating to an entertainment hotspot.
I know incredibly talented musicians who will never do better than enjoy their jobs while barely making ends meet.
I also know a lot of mediocre talents who are great at projecting an image and making friends who have gotten them everywhere in the business.
Meet up with and friend a currently hip producer and you could end up playing with Paul McCartney or someone like that... It’s a crap shoot but schmoozing skills are pretty essential.
But please, encourage him to also pursue other potential career interests/skills. There’s a lot of “winning the lotto” type luck involved in the music business.
Good luck!!!
Look for members who don’t want to settle for being a bar band. Nothing wrong with that, I did it for 25 years. Couldn’t convince others to unify around one goal, my bad.
Approach managers of big acts, they already have the connections. Have a recording of original music when you do so. The people who scout don’t wander into bowling alleys in Des Moines and find you, rarely. You have to approach them with your act together. Like any business venture, don’t be afraid to fire your friends if it doesn’t work out.
Don’t be studio driven, be able to pull it off live.
Lastly, your original music should be a mix of sounding familiar and unique. Too familiar, why bother. Too unique, over everyone’s head.shoot for 50/50
Good luck.
Very, very few very good guitar players ever make any money.
Far more good song writers and riff players do.
Focus on riffs and melodies and songs.
That's what Keith Richards and John Lennon would do, as would James Hetfield, Tony Iommi and Merle Haggard.
Old joke
Q - What’s the difference between a professional musician and a 14 inch pizza?
A The pizza can feed a family of 4....
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