I know and have known so many people who are so damn good at music it is no t funny. However none of them are making any real money off of it. One guy plays practically everything rock, and actually wrote and performed ALL par ts of songs, and sounds great. Layed down the drum track, then the bass, th en the rhythm guitar, then lead, keyboard and then sang it. Has a band and gets some gigs at bars and stuf.
But to pay the bills he lays ceramic tile.
Life hasn't caught up to music yet with one percent of the people having mo st of the money. In the music biz it is more like a tenth of a percent if t hat. Guy I work with, DAMN, talk about playing guitar. I heard chords he pl ayed justy screwing round tht I did not know COULD be played on a guitar.
To pay the bills he fixes guitars.
Living in the limelight, The universal dream, For those who wish to seem, Those who wish to be, Must... (Rush)
Must have alot of luck and connections. The people who run the music busine ss now are not what they once were. The game is rigged in favor of their fo lks. What's more, if you can paly as well as the pros, you are a dime a doz en. To really get anywhere you have to actually compose music and that is h arder than it looks. There is already so much music already done, almost ev erything you listen to is a remake, or in some cases adapted from a part of the great works by the likes of Beethoven and such. It is likely everythin g you do has been done.
I know a guy calls Jimi Hendrix a secong rate blues guitarist. Youy hear hi m play and you see that he has the right to say that. Very good, his rendit ion of playing and singing Stairway To Heaven with an acoustic guitar is fa ntastic. If it hadn 't been done before he could BE Led Zepplin.
If he had the proper connectionns.
Music is fun. I like to do it when I have just the right buzz and get in th e mood. I finally got to the point where I can play and sing at the same ti me, which is harder than it looks I found. But it is never going to make me a dime. I work for a music store now and none of them people are rich exce pt for the owner of the place maybe. The music lessons I think are like $30 an hour. I made that much fixing TVs.
There is one thiong though, someone who likes playing music understands a f orm of math. The chords and shit. They could be adapted for engineering or building things.
Trade school.
Don't l;ook at me in that tone of voice, yes, trade school. It is not demea ning or anything, you know how much money plumbers make ? Union bricklayers . If you are in good shape and not afraid of working hard them guys make mo ney. Both make more than most newbie engineers. The union usually runs the trade school and once you get that journeyman card you are employable. And if a hundred grand a year isn't enough you can go to other countries and ma ke twice or thrice that.
There is a youtube video out there call "College Conspiracy", if you can fi nd it it is worth the watch. What they're selling is one thing. What you're getting is another. The fact is you need speacial skills to really make it in this economy now. you need to have to be able to DO somethinng and that is not going to be plucking zither strings or whatever. Closest guy I know to making money playing a guitar actually sometimes goes out in front of t he brick and mortar and plays out there to attract attention. A marketing g immick.
It's just how it is.
Good luck with the kid. As bad as it seems, at least he is interested in so mething. Many have no interest at all except to get high and f*ck. So it's not all bad. He just needs to realize reality. The music business sucks, an d now it sucks worse because of digital. Record sales ? There are no record stores ! Between P2P and youtube, they can't sttop the hemorrage of money.
OK, enough.