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I have actually worked as a full-time professional artist for ten years and during that time picked up a couple of suggestions and tricks on things you need to and should not do! So today I'm going to impart on your 27 things that will help you in your profession as a working musician.
The outro music to this video is my track "The Longest March" which you can hear in full on Spotify:.
And, an additional unique thanks goes to Douglas Lind, Vidad Flowers, Ivan Pang, Waylon Fairbanks, Jon Dye, Austin Russell, Christopher Ryan, Toot & Paul Peijzel, the channel's Patreon saints!.
0:00 Introduction.
0:44 be direct!
1:26 provide your phone number.
2:05 discover to drive.
2:43 play multiple instruments.
3:09 make a showreel.
3:30 examine your spam.
3:53 keep a great calendar.
4:20 Happy Birthday.
4:45 Christmas music.
5:03 Auld Lang Syne.
5:20 learn the requirements.
6:00 practice till you can't get it incorrect.
6:32 download maps.
6:58 PAT testing.
7:12 PLI.
7:32 remember names.
7:47 do not wear your stage clothing to the gig.
8:19 food, water & coffee.
8:40 spares.
9:18 aux cable television.
9:47 event professional photographers.
10:00 transpose button.
11:51 understand how to use your gear.
13:21 ear plugs.
14:10 receipts.
14:44 get along.
15:31 have fun!
16:06 Timbro.
17:00 Patreon.
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Learn piano or guitar for FREE with Timbro: https://timbroguitar.com/davidbennett 🎹🎸
Where can I buy that jumper?
I might need David to capo someday too@@redrum22
Make me.
Dude I got a Timbro ad before watching this 😂
That assisted hand-as-capo thing you did for your guitarist has to be one of the greatest impromptu acts of live stage survival I’ve ever heard of. Best wishes for the New Year!
I hope that guitarist learned how to play some barre chords after that incident. 🙂
@@spindriftdrinker
Touché 👏 👏 👏
The human capo is a great performance thing that will add a bit of spice to the gig for the band and the audience. Heck it may even become a “feature” rather than a OMG at your gigs.
When the rock band covers “Jump”, as the bassist, I “help” they keyboardist by fiddling with the de-tune wheel. It makes for some entertaining shtick for the audience. It started out with me goofing along and “correcting” the keyboard player as to what I wanted to hear to make it more interesting.
I actually a have a pretty cool story of live stage survival. I was playing with a band at a church gig for a barbecue they were doing, and as the band was warming up, our bass player’s strap broke clean off. We started thinking of alternatives, like maybe he could just be seated while we play and replace the strap later. But he’d have none of that; he walked off stage and out to his truck, grabbed a rope and a knife, and fashioned a new bass strap for himself so that he could keep playing as he was. That was still one of the coolest things I’ve borne witness to as a musician.
It was really sweet… until you realized it’s for the sake of Wonderwall
Solid advice. As a musician myself literally everything you said I’ve had experience with and is incredibly valuable
The transpose button problem is all too familiar to me. The first gig I ever did we performed “Hit the Road Jack”. We decided to play it in A minor instead of the original Ab minor to better fit the singers range.
However, somehow this info never got to the keys player (I believe she didn’t even know what the transpose button was) and she just played it in Ab on the gig.
Idk how we never noticed in the rehearsal room but it was definitely a mistake we never made again.
Another tip whilst tuning an instrument is use the mute button if you can. Tuning instruments audibly can irritate audiences. Great tips and can relate to all of these!
How far we have strayed from tuning by ear that nowwe have”audiences irritated”. I mean all of the tuning mishaps described would not occur when tuning by ear. Also it takes only one musician with absolute pitch (or decent relative pitch and somerecall) to catch a wrong tuning while in progress
Yeah lemme just hit the mute button on my trombone
You tune a trombone?
@@matteframe I was kinda wondering. I think maybe counterfit5 plays a trombone that has some valves. Otherwise you can retune on the spot unless you’re at the long slide’s very end.
@@matteframe If tone quality and reliable intonation matter, yeah! You don’t act surprised when the fretless bass or violinist tune their open strings
Great tips!! 🎉
The transposition topic sent me back to music school. I was a beginner at reading music and I learned a piece in my lessons. Had an audition and didn’t realise I had given the accompanist sheet music in a DIFFERENT key. Back then I was very “muscle memory” in my vocal learning and I could tell something was wrong when we started to perform but I didn’t know what it was until she called me out. Nightmares!!!! I cried a lot after and she said to me, “If you have time to cry, you have time to practice. It is okay, just don’t do that again.” I was lucky she was a genius and could play anything and I’m still horrified to this day for 20 year old me
Anyways…checking to make sure we’re all in the same key is definitely my favourite advice!!
I’ve never felt a spark within me after watching a Youtube video. Yet this video made actually and seriously consider becoming a professional musician. Untill now, I’ve never considered it a possibility because of the little to no demand, and therefore no way of living. Now I seriously want to consider it! Thanks David! 🙂
Thank you so much! Very useful tips!
🤦♂️
@@Ten2Tesla ok but why
Great tips! Some additional ones I learned from years of gigging & touring=
-simplify your gear as much as possible. less failure points, less complicated, more portable, and easier to have the necessary backups with you.
-learn how to communicate what you need to sound engineers. understanding the basics of sound/production will only help you in your music career, and being able to clearly communicate about sound is essential for a smooth sound check.
-for anyone relying on tube amps, get some kind of amp emulation pedal with which you can play direct as a backup. Sansamp, Iridium, HX Stomp, etc are worth their weight in gold to guitarists and bassists. i’ve had amps stop working on stage numerous times – it happens, so be prepared.
Good tips!
Also, a light side tip for the guitarists in particular-
knowing HOW to use gear to get a great sound is more important than having special, boutiquey, vintage, or difficult-to-find gear.
If you rely on some special 2-year-waitlist overdrive pedal and a vintage amp, and you struggle to get a sound you like out of more run-of-the-mill gear, you’re going to be really bummed if that stuff ever stops working on the road and you need to hit up a local music store to get replacements. or if you have to rent on a fly-in gig.
Knowledge is power and making great sounds is a skill, not necessarily a game of collecting. Work on your ability to get a good sound out of anything and it’ll definitely pay off!
+1 for amp emulators. Probably the greatest technical revolution in my career playing live, I’ll never take a tube amp out of my home ever again.
@@captbuscemi I still use an amp for certain gigs, but I actually prefer playing direct with my HX Stomp when the PA is decent! More consistent, flexible, reliable, and portable.
HX Stomp also replaced my interface, pedalboard, and headphone practice amp, while Helix Native replaced most of my third-party plugins.
What a great time to be a guitarist! Just amazing what we can do with just a modeler or modeler + amp
One great piece of advice for guitarists and bassists is to pull the amplifier jack from behind and through your strap and then connect it to your guitar, instead of having it hang from the front of your guitar. That way, if you accidentally step on the chord it won’t unplug because the friction of the strap prevents it from moving.
Yeah that’s a classic! More than once I’ve seen an excited guitarist stamp on their own lead and pull it out!
Straight facts. I don’t usually bother with this when just practicing or jamming, but yeah… i’ve stepped on enough cords to know… lol.
Also-have more cables and batteries than you think you need. You never know what can happen. If you don’t use your cables, you can save someone else’s bacon.
The guitar version of watching out for transpose is making sure the capo is on the right fret. I once did a gig where I put the capo on 4 instead of 3 – made even worse by the guitar coming in on its own after a big full-band intro. Funnily enough, someone in the audience came up to me afterwards and told me he’d seen the capo was on the wrong fret and was trying to wave at me to alert me!
#4 – Be a Multi-Instrumentalist – as one myself (piano, guitar, cello, bass, drums, singing) people tend to throw around the old “jack of all trades, master of none” thing. But the reality is, every instrument has informed the other, and thereby enriched and improved my playing of each all around. From rhythm to ear training, I find that when I practice one instrument for awhile, and pick up another, it’s weirdly as if I had practiced that one too – because in so many ways, when you understand the theory and have developed your ear, there’s truly so much overlap. Added bonus is you think about your primary instrument a little differently – which will make you more creative and come up with ideas for licks you never normally would have (approaching piano with ideas earned from guitar playing or vice-versa).
2:48 4. That’s all very well for those privileged with those abilities. Others aren’t so lucky but that doesn’t lessen their worth as a performer on the instruments they do play.
Yeah man, learning other instruments and specially performing them live will only make you a better musician overall. I’m primarily a drummer but once I started to play other instruments, I felt the drums differently and always played the others with a drum approach (which got me even more gigs because, you know, rhythm is the basis of everything). Music is a super special and beautiful form of art and it’s definitely infinite.
@@joaoaugustoschiavottielloc5106 totally! My first instrument was the drums actually, and it took learning guitar and keys to really think about how my drums interact with the musical story being told… so I began to approach drums differently, thinking about how I could complement or contrast melodies (or leave appropriate room for them to breathe rather than filling over them). It definitely made me a more “musical” drummer to think about the tonality rather than just the rhythm. And vice-versa, I feel like I play keys and guitar “like a drummer,” more syncopated and rhythmic. It all informs each other and deepens my love for music to learn about it from different angles 🥰
This isn’t a bad idea, but there’s a difference between competence on various instruments and being a multi-instrumentalist, and I think it’s being thrown around a bit loosely. For example, you say that you play bass. But I think it’s probably more accurate to say that you play guitar and that that allows you to get some notes out on bass. And that’s great, but it’s not the same as being a bassist, it’s just its physical similarity to a guitar. So it might fit better to describe this as using different instruments as means for musical expression. And I like the idea because at the end of the day music is in us, not instruments.
@@lambsay3133 sure, valid points. I’ve actually played bass quite a lot, though I’m better at guitar – but I would say because they are similar (tuning and fretboard layout), the concepts translate very well. Can I do crazy fast slaps and slides? Not necessarily, but stylistically that doesn’t interest me and the type of music I make. However, I would say I play bass with guitar sensibilities (often riff-centric, higher up the neck, quite melodically, sometimes with a pick gasp!), and yet sometimes I approach guitar with a bass sensibility (syncopation, rhythmic plucking, etc). So I agree with what you say, using different instruments is just different means for musical expression, and it works for me to think of the bigger musical idea and then find the right tool to express that.
What a fantastic video! I’ve been a gigging jazz bassist for around 2.5 years at this point, and everything in this video has ring true to what Ive learned. On top of that, I learned new valuable tips I’ve never even thought of!
David, regarding earplugs, i got the ones that are moulded to your own ears. These can be especially made just to cut out the dangerous high frequencies, but let everything else thru. That way you can still hear everything clearly. These really saved my ears in all the years i was a sound guy for bands.
Really cool video! I found that being a nice human being is the most important thing as a giging musician – even more important than playing good music. I developed friendships with other bands that landed me numerous gigs. It would be cool to see a similar video but specifically made for bands. For example, it is important to keep your bandmates happy and excited to ensure the longevity of a band – this could be achieved by doing stuff other than practicing, getting regular gigs and so on.
Yes! And having a good personal relationship with other bands has gotten us several gigs. Also, watch/support other local bands whenever you can.
Great list and video. Here’s a few others
– Reliability is a huge advantage for musicians and can get many gigs. Nothing worse than people not turning up, being late and / or unprepared.
– Responsibility is another, if you really can’t make a gig aa a band, or player, it helps to organise a dep and take the heat off your customer / band mates
– Good, reliable equipment. It may cost a bit more but will pay for itseif in the long run.
I’ve made my living off of playing the guitar for 30 years of my life. These 27 tips are either things I did or things I wish I’d done. Hats off to David B for putting them all in one very watchable video!
How much do you charge per gig?
I’m not a working musician and don’t ever see music becoming more than a treasured hobby, but I watched this because other David Bennett Piano videos I’ve watched have been content-packed and high quality. This was the best yet. It was tip, tip, tip, tip, etc. one after the other and flew by. I wish more content creators would get to the point this quickly. It’s very engaging. Well done.
Great video – your experience shines through. I’ve been a semi-pro bass player for years, and can relate to pretty much everything here. Particularly the way you framed tip #26 – I’ve had that exact conversation with rookies many times. Beyond a certain (surprisingly low) skill floor, being reliable and likeable is far more important in getting more gigs than technical ability. Musicians have a perhaps deserved reputation for flakiness, and people will be worried about that – not something anybody wants when booking a key part of their event. Part of your job is to reassure the people you work with that you are a safe pair of hands.
I struggled to think of anything I’d add to your excellent list but I managed to come up with a couple!
– Always bring gaffer tape and paper / pen / cliplight. Sometimes you have to make notes on the fly and it may well be dark on the stage (phone is not ideal for this for multiple reasons).
– Check the venue beforehand, including speaking to staff if possible. How painful is the loadin/out process? Do you need to arrive unusually early? Do you have to park 100m away? Is there a brutally overzealous sound limiter (quite common at picturesque wedding venues). If so you want to know about it in advance so you can plan for it.
“Amateurs practice until they get it right. Professionals practice until they can’t get it wrong.” Loved this one.
My last band practiced together 3-5 hours – 3 days per week – on top of our personal at-home practice. It made an enormous difference.
Other musicians would see us and say we were ‘naturals’ but – truthfully, we weren’t – we were just prepared.
Quarter (not even semi)-pro musician, and these are all great tips. One other thing I did that helped tremendously was create my gig bag and a laminated printed A4 sheet of paper, with a marker, listing the gear that needed to be in there, so I could check it off before and after and know I haven’t left any adapters, plugs, cords, pedals etc, anywhere. Also, don’t ever be late. Best advice I got was be earlier than you think, so that you can relax and feel the energy of the place you are playing at and have a chance to gauge the sound and set-up. I played so many outside gigs where I found the perfect/ideal spot, both visually and sound-wise, because I could look around and was not rushed to set-up.