Struggling musicians often find it hard to earn enough to support themselves from music alone. But many are not aware of different ways to earn cash as a musician. As a guitarist, you have a lot of freedom and possibilities to make music your way of earning a living!
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The first and a very traditional way is being a gigging musician. But even this way has a few different
approaches. A lot depends on marketing. Are you going to be a solo musician or part of a band? Are you going to perform cover songs or your own material? And is it better to develop your own, unique style or to go for a tribute-band type of thing? All of these options are available to you!
What you need to keep in mind in case you decide to go this route is that you will need to be very
versatile. For example, even if you are a great lead guitarist playing a super-strat and use dive-bombs all the way, you should be able to take out your acoustic guitar and play some solid rhythm and backing sections. And in case that you don’t own a good acoustic guitar just yet, we got you covered!
The second and somewhat different approach would be to build up a YouTube channel. This approach might seem unreal, but it’s actually more than plausible. You will need to work for it very hard in the beginning and invest in good recording equipment. You will also need to do your research and follow recent trends, but the payout can be great. Covers of popular songs can often exceed millions of views – and at the same time, there are hundreds of songs which haven’t been covered by any guitarist, or even musician, as of yet! If you’re the only one covering a certain song, you can be assured that people will click on your cover.
With this approach, you still have similar questions open as for the first one – covers or original
material? Market yourself as an acoustic or metal guitarist, or be a Jack of all trades? Offer tabs for free or add them as additional perks on Patreon? Work alone or with other musicians? The possibilities are endless!
Lastly, there is a third way that many underestimate – and that is being a guitar teacher. With only a little bit of theoretical knowledge you can start teaching children and beginners. As you teach, you will develop your own skills and learn new genres, which will allow you to expand and teach even intermediate guitarists. This way can also be combined with online and YouTube lessons.
If you decide to teach guitar, make sure you work on your communication skills and learn to listen to the requests of your students. You will need to learn songs that you would maybe never play if it weren’t for the students. It’s all about commitment and communication.
In summary, there are many career opportunities for us musicians. Guitarists have the additional
advantage of playing a very popular instrument. Remember that every beginning is very hard, but with enough time and will, you can reach all your goals. For more information and ideas on musicians’ careers and instruments, visit our website for musicians.
All the best!
