Question: When you have learned to play guitar at a reasonable level what is the next step to making a living from guitar so that you can support yourself economically?

Tom Hess's Answer: The ‘next step’ depends upon exactly what your specific situation is and on what your music career objectives are. So it’s not 100% possible to answer your question in a way that is completely accurate for each person in a general response, however…

For most musicians the first step is preparing your mindset since this is the single biggest thing that prevents most musicians from ever starting a music career.

In order to be successful in the music industry, you must acquire certain beliefs about yourself and your own potential, as well as let go of many myths about how the music business works and why it works the way it does today. A good place to start will be to read my music career articles, especially this article about how to become a professional musician and this second article on how to become a professional musician.

The best way to make a secure living in the music business is to build a variety of active and passive streams of music related income. This will help you to feel more secure and less dependent on a single stream of income. For example, teaching guitar (or playing gigs) is an “active” form of income (you have to teach /play gigs over and over again to make money). Selling a product (such as your record) is a “passive” stream of income (you make the record once, and then it generates money while you sleep – assuming the marketing behind the record is effective).

With a bit of intelligent planning (and ideally, some guidance from someone who can mentor you in getting started with this) you can build MANY such streams and make a very secure and stable living (with a high income) as a professional musician.

Many people think that the music business is somehow more risky than other industries when in reality the opposite is true. Most people who work a regular job have only one source of income (their paycheck), while a musician can have 10 or more various sources (from passive and active streams). If a company fires an employee, he loses his only source of income, but if a musician loses 1 of his streams of income, the financial impact is usually not very dramatic since not all of his income is suddenly wiped out.

So begin thinking and planning multiple streams of income to build your own security in this industry.

Apply for my Music Careers Mentoring Program to start a career in music.

Learn the fastest way to make it in the music industry.