Not all artists need to come to the forefront to create soulful music or have a successful career. If you want to become a musician but don’t particularly fancy the limelight, you can become an established session artist instead.
While there are different types of session artists, session guitarists are the most common and popular across major cities like London or Paris. These artists contribute a lot for the success of different musical records or performances.
The easiest way to become an established session guitarist is to enrol in a reputed music school in London. However, if you don’t have the time or money to invest in a musical education, there are other ways to reach there as well.
Read ahead to learn how you can become a qualified session guitarist and begin your own music practice.
What do session guitarists do?
Most session guitarists fall in one of the two categories—live or recorded. Live session guitarists accompany celebrity musicians on their tours and concerts and complement their performances. On the other hand, recorded session guitarists play music in recorded music sessions inside music studios.
How do you become a successful session guitarist?
Here are a few sure-shot tips that can help you establish your career as a session guitarist.
- Familiarise yourself with as many music styles as you can: The key to becoming successful as a session guitarist initially is to be able to play in as many music genres as possible. You need to have an encyclopaedic knowledge of genres like rock, pop, and jazz and should also be able to play the differences at the drop of a hat.
- Learn more about your local music scene: It is very rare that you would be called in to perform for a celebrity right at the start of your career. Most of your initial gigs would come from the people you know and your neighbourhood. Therefore, you should familiarise yourself with the music scene in your city and the type of gigs you can get there.
- Network more with producers and other artists: Networking plays a very big deal within the music industry and good contacts can take your career very far. Producers are the ones who usually book session musicians. Hence, make sure that you know at least a few music producers closely.
- Learn to play instruments other than a guitar: Even though being a guitarist might be your musical calling, as a session musician, you might have to learn to play other instruments as well. Producers like to choose flexible session musicians who can play or perform with other instruments in a pinch.
- Educate yourself about the recording process: If you want to become a recorded session guitarist, you should be well-versed in the process of studio recording. Even though most big studios have a team of sound engineers, your expertise in studio recording will help the project flow smoothly.
Following these tips can help you complement your practical skills in addition to the theoretical knowledge that you may acquire from a music course. The greater your practical knowledge, the more chances you get of securing good gigs early in your career.
Also Read: How to Play Guitar
Invest in a good music theory or management programme today to become the top session guitarist in your industry.
