How can you make money from playing guitar?

compboyo

compboyo

compboyo

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Without becoming a famous original band?

Perhaps play covers?

But to make any reasonable amount of money do you need a band? And what else:

Drummer
bassist
vocalist


And you would advertise to play weddings, pubs etc...

Can you make a living and decent money?

Is it rare to make money just by being good at guitar?

Any more advice?



Playing guitar was a hobby for me but after a good few years Im pretty good.
 
DJmartin said:
Weren't you the one that made a thread about teaching guitar? That would seem like the best way without becoming famous. There is always youtube but I don't know if you would get popular at all without singing as well. The top musicians on there seem to be pretty good. I think that the ones that do it at weddings/pubs do it as a part time job for a bit of extra money really.

My old guitar teacher tried to charge £100 for about 8 10 minute lessons at my school which I declined of course it was ridiculous. The problem was he was charging £25 per person and taking groups of four for 10 minute sessions where you learned nothing anyway and all the people from my group dropped out. Try contacting a school?
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Well I looked on gumtree and experienced teachers are offering lesson as cheap as 15 quid per hour...I can not compete with that. 1stly Im a newbie so would have to charge less and 10 pound per hour is not even worth my while.
 
cm1179 said:
be very good at it and do sessions. if you land on an album, royalties for life.
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ok but how many people are very good at guitar?

No matter how much I practice and good I become to get on sessions is rare right?

People been playing guitar all life or since kids. I only got into it when I was 18 and totally self taught.
 
But if you think about the big money earning pop bands, stone roses, oasis, Beatles, rolling stones, Arcitc monkeys etc....these guitarists in alll honesty are not amazing at all...well maybe John Squire...Noel Gallagher is a great songwriter but his guitar playing is always pentatonic lead and same chords lol nearly always...

So, to make money is more about being able to make catchy tunes that sell well.

That has little to do with guitar ability right?

So being good at guitar is not a great thing to possess. Better at making great songs or riffs?
 
Woody__ said:
Being a great guitarist does not equal being a great songwriter. One could even argue that they are two entirely separate things.
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Id agree.

Off course it takes guitar skills to create ''guitar'' songs such as Jimmi Hendrix, Led Zep.

But to make regular pop songs dont even need to know guitar.

Guitar music is not much about these days anyway. Its all simple pop.
 
Woody__ said:
Not really. Joe Strummer and Bruce Springsteen aren't renowned for having brilliant guitar skill, yet have made some of the best "guitar songs" ever written.

If you think there's not enough "guitar music" then you need to look in a different place for it, to be honest.
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when I meant guitar. I meant epic guitar stuff...its a misunderstanding

You could say Wonderwall is a great guitar tune..its simple..

You could say beatles have great guitar songs..many are simple 3 chords


When I say guitar song I mean song based upon epic, complex, creative, innovative guitar playing..whole lotta love, Stairway to heaven, Hendrix= 3rd stone from the sun, hey baby, little wing, Santana black magic women etc..style playing. Complex and well thought out guitar playing and very creative.

you dont get songs based upon guitar playing like that these days...
 
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Woody__ said:
I would say you do, yes. Perhaps none of them are particularly successful in terms of mainstream recognition, but they exist.
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right if true then supports my comment that to make money being a good poppy catchy songwriter is better than an epic guitarist.

EPic guitar music is not mainstream nowadays

Wheres todays van Halens, , Hendrix, Page, Santana?

There aint any..still these dudes are the big guitar names...20-50 years later

Maybe more current great guitrists are in metal rather than rock so not so mainstream.

Frusicante and The Egde (also both been aroudn for ages) are prob the best recent rock guitarists mainstream.
 
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Woody__ said:
I'm sorry man, but I'm really confused about the money making aspect of it here. Surely it's better to do what you love first and foremost...
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Well obviosuly Im not debating that point.

I am stating which IMO is quite clear to see that there are no mainstream famous epic guitarists today. Maybe Slash cause he looks cool :D but GNr old too.

Unlike back in the day, Clapton, hendirx, Page, Van Halen, Santana etc...bands and people famous based upon the guitar playing.


Though its possible todays greatest guitarists play metal thats why they are not 'so famous'' or mainstream. Because metal is a selective taste. Off course classic rock was huge and very popular back in the day.
 
Woody__ said:
Johnny Greenwood, Tom Morello, Slash, Graham Coxon, Robin Finck, any of the guys who are currently in Guns n Roses...just from the top of my head.

They might not be "epic", but they're in pretty mainstream bands and are all great guitar players.

And Prince. Obviously.
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yet I and most off the popualtion ahve not even heard off them. They are not fmaous stars. You are comaprign graham coxon to Van halen..lol not even same sentence..

OK greenwood this is radiohead dude right? lol no one knows him excpet radiohead fans and idnide fans same as grame coxon.


Lets be real there is no santana, hendrix, van halen. There never has been for years...No superstars. NO guitar heros.

just some good guitar players.

Noel gallagher prob most ''famous'' guitarist off last 2 decades in Uk at least and he is not amazing on guitar at all.

John Squire was pretty good but he was short lived tbh and not enough good material and pretty quiet/elusive not a star. And I wouldnt say his fame wa mainstream but im too young to know.

The only exciting rockstars off last 20 years in UK has been Oasis as they had attitude and style. Maybe U2 and RHCP next worldwide....but people dont know frusciante or Navarro or The edge unless they are ''guitar folk''
 
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Woody__ said:
Blur were one of the biggest bands in the UK and Radiohead are one of the biggest bands in the world...

Should also chuck James Dean Bradfield from the Manics in there too.
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you seem to be really misunderstanding me.

I am not discussing bands...I am saying rock guitar legends.

There have been none for decades...

Slash was the last guitar hero type role model stereotype dude. And he is not that great really just looks cool.
 
IggyStooge said:
You don't need to be technically brilliant to be a guitar hero. Noel Gallagher was the reason I started playing guitar and even he admitted he's not anything special.

a lot of guitar music these days just isn't about getting to an epic solo or playing as many notes per second as possible. It doesn't mean the guitarist of whatever band couldn't play like that if they wanted.

Matt Bellamy has to be one of the best guitarists of the last 10 years.
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Yes last night I was thinking Matt Bellamy. But I dunno he aint like Jimmy Hendrix famous. But tehincally hes not that far off legend status...If hes playing guitar in the 60-70s he would most likely be some legend.
 
Oasis influenced me and I guess many others to pick up the guitar because I liked there songs and music and saw that they played guitars...


It was not like oh this guitar sounds are amazing I need to buy a guitar and try to play guitar like this.

I just got into guitar to play live forever and wonderwall. I had never even heard off or knew about lead guitar. I thought only chords existed lol. Then I found out about lead and solos and I was like WOW!! I wondered how they make those noises with guitar lol...I was trying to play the solos using chords lmao...I couldn't get chords to sound like the solos (which was notes not chords and was mad for weeks) then on internet I discovered that you didn't need to play chords you could play individual notes,,,lead guitar lol

lol..thats how clueless I was.

So you can see Oasis influenced me to pick up guitar without actually making you aware off the guitar itself...the guitar was a medium to play a song.

Whereas Hendrix or Van halen influence would be to pick up the guitar to make amazing sounds form your guitar.

I think Beatles would've influenced many in the same way oasis did...
 
I was referring to fact that like the Beatles, Oasis inspired people to pick up a guitar to play simple easy pop/rock songs.....I was not comparing the Beatles to oasis in any other way at all!!!! Though I coudl but Id save that for another thread.

However,

Fxxxkin in the bushes

And swamp song

And live forever solo was sick

were 2 exciting guitar songs by Oasis, though still both rather simple...but cool.
 
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Also the Edge is pretty amazing at guitr but never shreds...Hes always slow notes and delay etc...well most off the time..pretty cool stuff. With or without you was sweet.
 
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