Manly Occupation
Apparently, being a guitarist is a "desirable man job." The Art of Manliness just published this interview with Dan Skidmore, a weekend warrior, part-time professional guitarist in upstate New York. He's a college research director and single father of two by day.
An excerpt:
According to Music Trades magazine, about three-million guitars are sold in the US every year. You can’t swing a Stratocaster in any decent-sized town without hitting a few guitar players. What this means is, as a guitarist, you are the single most dispensable musician on the planet. Keep this in mind every single time you pick up the instrument to practice. Focus on practicing what you need to be able to play to get and keep the job. Remember, there are guys lined up behind you for every gig. I might be one of them, and, I guarantee you, if I want that gig then I have practiced my ass off for it. If you don’t have it together, that job will be mine before I take my guitar out of the case.
That strikes me as good advice. Refreshing too. The guitar world is full of too much "just have fun" and not enough "quit screwing off and get your work done."
Brian (26 Jun 2009 at 9:56am)
It must be said though, chops are not everything. I'm 'good enough" for most gigs, and have stolen a lot of gigs from "superior" players simply because I'm more fun to hang with. Practice hard, play well and DON'T BE A JERK and you will be able to steal gigs from some prima donna that can blow all over you.
Joe (26 Jun 2009 at 10:11am)
Agreed. Dan writes much on this in his article as well.
Connor (28 Jun 2009 at 1:26pm)
Thanks, and I thought I would be done transcribing for the day. Nothing like fear to push you to your limits.
Joe (28 Jun 2009 at 9:52pm)
It doesn't have to be fear. I see it as a simple competitive drive. Hell, it doesn't even have to be competitive. If I want to be my best, I know what I have to do, and screwing off is not included.
Dan Skidmore (30 Jun 2009 at 11:50am)
I’m glad that you enjoyed this piece! As Joe points out, I stated pretty explicitly in this interview that being a pro guitar player (whatever that means) is NOT all about chops. It's about musicianship, which includes being able to get along and communicate with the people you're sharing the stage or rehearsal hall with! As I stated:
"Without a doubt, the single biggest misconception people have about being a professional guitarist is that it is all about your technique on guitar – how many licks you know, how fast you can play, etc. True, you have to have a certain base level of musicianship to make music professionally. You need to know music – speak the language – and know your instrument. You need to play the right notes, at the right time, and do so in a musically-pleasing fashion.... [but]
Any working musician will take a solid player with a good attitude over a virtuoso who is a pain."
Feel free to contact me directly at dan_s99@hotmail.com if you have any additional questions or thoughts. You’re also welcome to stop by my website. We’re having a little difficulty (ahem… $$$ cough.cough.) getting studio-quality recordings up there, but there are 10-15 rough excerpts of guitar music for you to check out. Thanks, and if you see me at a show be sure to stop up and say “hey.”
- Dan S.
Loren (29 Jul 2009 at 2:35pm)
As far as the "3 million guitars" statistic; one can only question how many of those guitars (a) are stratpacks or the like and sit in a corner and collect dust; (b) are for VERY amateur guitarists; or (c) are for collectors, such as myself. I average a guitar a year lately, so....
In San Diego, in my experience at least, there aren't that many good "pro" guitarists--guys who can learn songs/licks for a gig and come in and nail them. There are a bevvy of guitarists who are what I like to call "incomplete" players. They can play every lick from Slipknot, but couldn't write an indie rock style lick, for instance. They tend to be stuck in their ways and unable to work with others functionally (not necessarily due to personality). On top of that, I agree with Dan that you need to be able to complement the artist who is hiring you. So many people can't functionally or philosophically do that. I guess what I mean is, the line behind a player in this town is shorter than you'd think.
Just my 2 cents, about a month late.