Amateur musician vs professional musician: which are you?

[Dan Dare]

7 minutes ago, gjones said:

Most professional musicians I know, have a wife who has a proper job.

So true. I always kept a day job, even when I was supposedly 'professional'. I might have left for a few months if I got offered work abroad, for example, but I always went back to a day job again. It meant I didn't have to live on baked beans. These days, with a couple of pensions, I play for fun/beer money, so I'm definitely an amateur.

[Heathy]

Enjoyed that. I'm sure we can all relate to some of those bad habits.

Thanks for sharing.

[Barking Spiders]

I didn't find him annoying though I didn't agree with all his comments about amateurs but then he might be right and me wrong. I never wanted to be a pro precisely for the reason that most of the stuff I'd be playing wouldn't be to my liking. I only ever wanted to play music that I liked and when I liked and wouldn't touch most genres with three bargepoles attached end to end. 

[jezzaboy]

I follow a guitarist called Tim Pierce on Ya Tube, the guy is a session veteran and top player. He posted a vlog of a recent gig, a sort of second division Grammy awards. He was playing with Vinnie Colaiuta, Leland Sklar, Dean Parks etc. 

After watching the skill of these guys in their natural environment, I have realised (if I didn`t know before lol) that I am a weekend warrior that gets to play the odd decent sized gig and I am more than happy with that!

[mikel]

3 hours ago, Steve Browning said:

My (ex pro) Dad used to say that an amateur practices until they get it right. A pro practices until they can't get it wrong. 

That'll do for me. 

There is a lot more to being a pro than that. Getting enough work to pay the bills for one. I can play stuff blind, in the dark and in my sleep, doesn't make me a pro. Its just playing by rote. Creativity is the measure of a musician for me.

[Stub Mandrel]

All broad generalisations are wrong 🙂

You need to take the video in the spirit it's intended:

"Young person hoping to make a living from music - don't assume it's just about getting enough work to be paid. If you want to be successful you need to..."

[deepbass5]

Yep

everything he said in that video