Taylor Suarez
Ms. Brown
Expository Writing
01 – 28 – 08
How to be a Professional Guitarist
In a job, most people hope to finish college and pursue a career for which they can spend the rest of their lives doing, then to retire from. This form of work is usually stereotyped by the vision of people in business suits sitting behind a cubicle, working the same work for 12 hours a day, 365 days a year, save the holidays for which they have to spend their hard earned money on presents and such for other people. Doesn’t seem very enjoyable, but there are those certain sects of people who get a job in which they can enjoy themselves and have fun. Many peoples’ job of choice in that nature would be being a professional guitarist. Travelling around the world doing what you love doing, meeting new people from different places who all have something in common, the universal language that is music.
What makes a Professional guitarist? This is a complicated question, because different people take the term “professional guitarist” in different ways. Maybe you think that dedicating your life to your instrument and having no limitations to your musical knowledge, no matter what your occupation is, whether you are store owner or someone who tours the world in an extremely successful act makes a professional guitarist. Or maybe you think that those who are lucky enough to be endorsed and travel around international stages with record deals and fans are the real professionals, and the others are just “part-time” musicians. I’m going to go with the former on this paper, but being a professional does definitely mean different things. One thing that makes guitarists different is their inspirations. Professional guitarist Steve Smyth stated his early inspirations. He cited bands like Led Zeppelin, Queen, Aerosmith, and many others as his main reasons for chasing his musical dream. Inspiration causes thought which, with dedication, can produce a positive effect, no matter what your inspirations are. Obviously Steve (who plays mostly Shred mixed with Jazz-Fusion and Metal) would have different inspirations than someone who would listen to something like ethnic music, or world music, but we going to try and focus on artists similar to those of Steve. Apart from inspirations, another thing to get you kick-started in the musical world is close relations with someone, though this is more based on luck. Become successful in the music business usually means being in the right place at the right time. However, Tom Hess (professional guitarist) thinks otherwise. Mr. Hess, who writes many editorials on many things related to guitar playing, usually states his opinions on subjects with a straight-to-the-point type of attack, using quotes from scientists and philosophers to not prove, but more along the lines of sway his reading into thinking like him, such as "Luck is the residue of design,” and "Luck can be created, directed, manipulated and controlled.” He tells about how if you really wanted to become successful, then you can be, no matter what your circumstances, however the topic of success is one to be later discussed. Though, not all people make it, so it is always good to stay in school so you have something to fall back on, back-up plans are important. Even some professional musicians work another job because they aren’t paid enough by their musical endeavors.
As stated earlier, everyone has different inspirations, ranging from metal and jazz, to orchestral and world music. All of these inspirations lead to the thing that sets all guitarists apart, their style. A guitarist’s style is his or her I.D., their identification of the ears. Styles can be similar or totally different, like Yngwie Malmsteen, professional neo-classical guitarist. Yngwie’s signature tone is unmistakable, and his ingenious note choices and moving style of play sets him apart from all others, just like Rusty Cooley’s unparalleled technical ability leaves him no boundaries, allowing him to explore different styles and inspirations, letting him further sharpen his musical identity into his own creative style. It is important to make your own style so that you are not clumped together with all of the other generic copy-cats that have been plaguing our ears for the last couple decades. You should always let different styles of music influence your playing. It’s always good to play in a rock band and have the understand of an ethnic musician, or be in an orchestral group and be able to play like a jazz guitarist.
Success in the music business is different for everyone, but most believe it to be able to travel around the world spreading your music to the heads of many. In order to make a living, decent success is needed. Many musicians are not able to support themselves on their musical income, but instead need to also work part-time jobs. But then there are the select few who are discovered and are mass produced, leading to millions upon millions of dollars. Determination, perseverance, practice, and dedication are the only ways to get there. In the words of Steve Smyth “Practice hard, study even harder, persevere, never take no for an answer, learn and grow from your mistakes, and player, record, and gig as much as you possibly can!”
Many see the dream of becoming a professional guitarist to be risky and unrealistic. Some ask “Why become a professional guitarist?” Why not?
