There is more to being a musician than fingering notes on an instrument. There are the subtleties of group interaction, musicianship, repertoire, the business side (if you are a professional), and many additional subjects.
“Paying one’s dues” means what? Essentially, this implies learning the hard way, or learning from the hard knocks and mistakes that can happen when you’re starting out. You learn by personal experience and you can learn from the experience of others who have been around and benefit from their knowledge.
The Musicians’ How-To Series consists of short- to medium-length articles about a variety of music-related topics. This series provides musicians and singers with supplemental information that for the most part isn’t taught in schools and might or might not be learned on one’s own or from a private instructor. Much of this information has never before been in print.They are designed to throw in your bag or instrument case, take to your gig, rehearsal or jam, and PUT TO USE!
The following list contains a brief overview of each booklet. Clicking on the title will take you to the bookstore at the main Musicians’ How-To Series website, where you can read more about them as well as checkout some testimonials.
Information is as good as it improves your life when put to use!
Justin Meldal-Johnsen
Bassist / Producer / Songwriter
Beck, Tori Amos, Air, Ima Robot, Macy Gray, Dixie Chicks, Seal, Nine Inch Nails and many more.
“One can learn how to play from many sources, but these books provide information that I’ve only learned by hard experience, word-of-mouth, and investigation. To have things codified in this way provides a seldom taught foundation to one’s musical life… This is great stuff!”
Kenny Gradney
Bassist of “Little Feat”
“I could have used this book 30 years ago!”
“…remarkably thorough. He delivers worthy advice concerning matters that we musicians tend to think we’re too cool to confront.”
“[These books] should be in every budding musician’s library and it probably wouldn’t hurt even well-established musicians to take a browse through it either.”
Berklee College of Music
Career Development Coordinator, Peter Spellman
“OK, now let’s focus in…. The world of the freelance musician has its unique demands…. While covering obvious areas like equipment needs, types of gigs, and engagement contracts, it’s in those ‘second level’ areas where particularly valuable knowledge is shared. Here’s where you’ll find lucid sections on managing rehearsals, balancing the colliding worlds of multiple musician tasks, and dealing effectively with ‘bad attitudes’ in band settings. If you’re a freelance musician this book is essential reading.”
#1 What Do I Play? — The Basics Of Jamming
This booklet will teach you the basics of JAMMING! Not everyone is a natural jammer, and even if you are it can be easy to run out of things to do. Knowing some chords, riffs and songs, and putting it together with someone else’s chords, riffs and songs can be a mystery. And what if you don’t know any songs, but can play a little? Exactly what do you do and how does it all work? Many upcoming musicians have been frustrated either by not knowing the same songs someone else does, getting bored of playing the same songs or riffs over and over, or wanting to improvise but their buddies don’t know how, and can only play songs. What do you do? Well, there are actually quite a lot of choices, and this booklet shows you what they are!
STARTING YOUR FIRST BAND discusses the elements of putting a band together from the ground up. It covers getting band members, deciding on material, and working out the details. You can apply this info to both original bands and cover bands, as well as just getting together for a weekly jam.
#3 How To Rehearse – To Get The Most Out Of Your Time
The main objective of rehearsing is to tighten up the band’s performance and presentation of the material. (Unless you are also writing material.) The more efficient your rehearsals are, the sooner you’ll have your act together. Right? So the sooner you’ll be performing, gigging, making money, whatever. This booklet walks you through the main aspects of rehearsing such as: how to prepare for them, the ten most likely things needing rehearsal (i.e. grooves, transitions, cues, etc.), efficient rehearsal flow and the best way to tighten it up! The more efficient your rehearsals are, the sooner you’ll have your act together.
#4 How Successfully To Run a Band
One of the main reasons why a band can fail, or move slowly, is lack of organization and leadership. Someone has to steer the boat. This booklet outlines the basic functions that HAVE to occur in order to succeed. Some subjects mentioned are: planning and goal setting, marketing, finances, gigging, internal and external communication factors, public relations and important basic policies. Experienced band leaders, both for cover music and originals, know these things well. This booklet is perfect for both the beginner, and the professional sideman wanting to turn band leader!
#5 Organizing To Maximize Your Time
ORGANIZING TO MAXIMIZE YOUR TIME shows you just that. These time-proven techniques can help you with goal planning, time management, priority setting, handling distractions and more. Want more gigs? Want to get the original scene moving more quickly? Want to start making more money playing music? This info can help you speed the way to your musical goals.
#6 What Kind Of Gigs DO Musicians Play For $?(And Who Books Them?)
Most upcoming musicians have no idea of what kind of gigs musicians play for a living. (As well as many “established” ones.) Unless you’re in the flow of work yourself this can be a mystery. This booklet will show you the types of gigs different instruments are used for, with a flow chart of who books the gigs! It covers keyboards, piano, guitar, bass, drum-kit, percussion, strings, woodwinds, brass and vocalists. The GIG FLOW CHARTS include TV & recording, shows & concerts, theatre, casuals, clubs, hotels, road gigs and more…. (You can’t find work unless you know where to look!)
#7 Booking Cover Gigs For Ca$h
This booklet gives you the basics of booking cover gigs for cash. It covers who to contact for different venues, deciding if you need a booking agent or manager, how much to charge and all of the details. Included is a sample single-engagement contract and the fifteen things that can cause a band to fail or succeed
#8 Elements of a Successful (Cover) Gig
This booklet walks you through the key elements of creating a successful gig. It is up to the group to make the gig a good one or not, and there are many things involved. So what exactly makes one gig great and another not-so-great? Making each gig you play a hit ensures repeat and referral business, so read on and find out.
#9 How To Make A Living As A Guitarist
This booklet is the original, unedited version of my GUITAR PLAYER magazine article called “FREELANCING — How To Get Hometown Gigs Now!” (Nov 95) It is a summation of what it takes to be a successful freelance guitarist. It was valid in ’95, it’s valid now, and it will remain valid as long as there are guitar players!
A press kit primarily tells people who you are and what you do. The main purpose of a working band’s press kit is to provide the credibility that you can do what you say you can do. Whether an individual or a group, you need to communicate specific details, and this write-up tells you exactly what they are.
#11 Brochures, Postcards & Flyers
This booklet teaches you some fundamentals of creating promotional pieces with brochures, postcards and flyers. The key to making good promo is having the right piece for the intended audience, and this material will familiarize you with the process. These marketing and design principles apply to original groups, cover bands, and to anything that you do!
#12 Gigging: Reality or Illusion?
Gigging: Reality or Illusion? is mainly about you: creating your ideal musical life. What does it take? What’s the secret? Original music, cover music or both, and how how do you get to the top? This booklet will help you work out all of the details.
This booklet contains: Commonly Used Sayings and Body Gestures (musician’s sign language!), Things to Bring to a Gig, Different Types of Charts; Gig Flow Charts, Single-Engagement Contract, and much more!
#14 How To Run A Wedding From Beginning To End
Playing for weddings is a major source of income for many musicians. There are standard procedures, activities and protocols involved, and this booklet tells you what they are. From the initial meeting with the bride and groom, to handling the contract, to a four-hour script: it’s all here. (Including a sample Single-Engagement Contract!) To my knowledge there’s never been anything as precise, clear and easy to use as this in print before
#15 How To Make a Living as a Musician
This booklet is an overview of what it takes to either make a living as a musician or create a life playing music for pleasure. Among the many topics covered are: skills needed for different styles of music, finding gigs, composing, teaching, dealing with band members and a dozen other useful topics.
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