Free Motivation For The Non-Professional Musician

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Can you make money playing guitar? How can you become a professional non-struggling musician? It's not really about your music skills...

My name is David Wallimann. I am a guitar teacher, product demonstrator, session player, musician and composer. On this Youtube channel you will find free guitar lessons, music development tips, my music and more. Tahnks for watching my videos!

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Vola Guitars: (use code DAVID to save 10% on your next Vola Guitar)

[JensLarsen]

Sound advice! Thank you!

I really find myself in the middle of this process with my jazz guitar lessons.

Being creative as a musician also means being creative with how we make money!

[DustinAlford]

I agree 100 percent, I think once you adopt the entrepreneurship mindset to any art then you can truly make any dream come true. I just started this year, and am really excited to see the twists and turns this journey will take me. It's almost like a video game, you really have to experiment and see what works and what doesn't while expanding as a person but simultaneously staying true to yourself.

[nickburmanmusic]

Great video, David. EVERYTHING is about the mindset. EVERYTHING. There are thousands of tons of material out there showing people how to play. I could build a library with instructional books and DVDs. But there are very few people talking about the philosophy of making music, how to think. Even things like how to think about chord shapes and scales while you're playing would be useful - I know the shapes, the scales, but what is going on in your head when they're playing?
My problem is not one of making money - I'm a freelance graphic designer which affords me a lot of freedom/flexibility, if nothing else! - but time. I'm working on playing solo, building my set list and rehearsing, so I need to forge the time to do that. That's a mindset thing too! It's soooo easy to spend Practice Time noodling, learning new riffs (particularly yours!) and jamming over tracks, which is really putting off actual rehearsing and getting my act together (literally), even though that's what I really want to do - NEED to do. How do you get in that mindset? How do you tell yourself that you know enough, you can play well enough and you just need to work on repertoire instead of technique and vocabulary?
Hope that's not too many questions in one go! Thanks for the video :)

[jonburrellschannel]

I recently formed a duet back in January. We started learning cover songs and started doing open mics to get our name out. We finally got our first show booked in April. In July I went full time, to just playing guitar. Also we turned the duet into a band the same month. My income comes from playing guitar live and mixing for local artists. Living gig to gig can be hard but keeping your living expenses low is a key when first going full time musician. We are working on an album to further get our name out and sell merchandise to increase income. Now we are working on something like Dave said. Creating something we can resell without anymore time invested.

[Guitariste]

Approche très intéressante, merci pour le partage..

[freak]

Good video!! You should explore this topic further
1) The last group (trio) I was was with a couple of old (literally) friends. We were good enough to pursue our act further but these guys were quite obstinate about going no further than open mics, coffehouses, etc. They could not begin to grasp the idea of being a "professional" doing anything beyond playing meaningless covers in smoke-filled bars. Which is NOWHERE EVEN CLOSE to what I had in mind. We/they are no longer together as a group
2) Its real tough to maintain any sort of enthusiasm when a) no doors at all open and b) you're largely unemployed and have to sell all your gear to pay rent.

[AeroMetalMoe]

The thing with the facebook group is a very good idea. Great content as always David! :)

[RemyLuciani]

Thank you very much for sharing this with us.

> "If you're not making a living of your music, it doesn't mean that your a bad musician."

Hearing this kind of thing help a lot!

By the way, ever heard about the "Lean Startup" book? Has a practical recipe to build a startup. I'm pretty sure it could help to build a music business too.

Cheers!

[MartinCliffe]

Fascinating stuff, thank you for this David. I'm definitely in a place where I need to start making more return from my investment in music over the last 25 years, and I have a bit more time to do it (working 30 hours instead of 40+), so I've asked to join the group and am keen to pick up any tips I can! Thanks again, you are an inspiration.

[WelshiePlaysGuitar]

I sent a request to join that facebook group:) I'd really love to develop a brand in the future and hearing you talk about it was very inspiring and insightful. Thank you for another great video!

[guillotinedeath]

Just watched a video on a similar topic om chris jones/pumpchasers channel.. building a business and following is the key .. great info

[SweetParadise]

The only criticism I have is I think this is kind of a bad way to look at art. If I wanted to make money easily, I could just easily just write some generic lyrics about love over a G, C, D, A minor chord progression, and wait until I came up with something catchy. But that kind of attitude towards making music is exactly what's led to it's decline in recent years. If making money is your motivation for being a musician, then you're in it for the wrong reasons. But of course, we all want to make a living from playing music, so I guess it's important to be realistic too. Some interesting points, great job man.

[elisacampofiloni]

Ever heard of Brainarm full compositional coaching?
What do you think personally of this new technique/praxis for non-musicians?
They say you can compose without any theory or piano technique as they provide the knowhow...
I can see there are very good reviews online, also on the website
they say you can try Brainarm and get refunded if not satisfied.
Has anyone tried it yet?

[Heikken]

Hmm.. I spy with my two tired eyes, a Torpedo Reload. I wonder what it's connected to.

[andym]

Most musicians including myself find it no longer sustainable to be a professional musician. Better to keep at as a part time income and passion.

[Swanseaguy]

Surely it takes longer than 2 hours to edit and upload hese videos?