From those on the outside looking in, it may come as a surprise to learn that many who want to be professional musicians, do not always aspire to be centre stage. This is because, behind every great artist, there is the sideman, the musical gun-for-hire – the session musician. These men and women are usually exceptionally talented and absolutely crucial to the success of an artist’s record, or performance. In this blog, we’ll give you our top ten tips on becoming a session musician…
What is a session musician?
It’s actually quite tough to summarise everything a session musician could end up working on, but they generally fall into two broad categories – live and recorded.
Back in the 60s (and perhaps right up to as late as the 1990s) it was possible for a session musician to work exclusively in one field or the other. Nowadays, it’s much more common for them to have a foot in both worlds.
On recordings, session musicians will contribute parts that the artist can’t do themselves or add their own unique take to proceedings.
For example, if a singer-songwriter has gone into the studio with a song written for acoustic guitar and vocal, then they might need a session drummer, bass player or pianist to contribute more parts and work with the producer to make the song come alive. They may also “dep” in for players that become unavailable or ill at the last minute.
When it comes to live performance, a session musician might be hired to supplement the line-up of an artist’s band, on tour or for important one-off performances. If a big band is looking to tour, they might need a session musician in order to help replicate parts that they’ve performed on the record, but don’t have enough members to replicate live.
Chart-topping singers might have touring bands made up entirely of session musicians, with a Musical Director in charge.
On a smaller level, if an independent artist is looking to host an album launch, they might want to hire some additional musicians to accompany them as part of a band, to celebrate the launch of their new EP or album with a special performance.
If becoming a session musician sounds like your ideal job, then here are our top ten tips for getting started.
Don’t forget, there will always be an element of luck involved and your contacts will be crucial – so make the most of any genuine opportunities to come your way.
1. Become proficient in as many styles as you can, while still playing to your strengths
The key to becoming initially successful as a session musician will be the ability to work in as many genres as possible.
If you get a call on a Wednesday from someone looking for you to take part in a Jazz session on a Thursday for £300, you simply aren’t going to be able to retrain in the fundamentals of Jazz guitar overnight if you have only ever spent your life learning The Eagles’ back catalogue.
Likewise, if a local Reggae band wants you to take part in their first big tour, you’re going to look pretty silly if you turn up to rehearsals without any knowledge of how reggae music is fundamentally put together.
This isn’t just about learning to play in specific genres – though that is very important! – you’ll also need to have an encyclopaedic knowledge of genres and their context. Update your playlists and become a veracious consumer of new music.
The more genres you are proficient in, the more jobs you can take. It’s as simple as that.
Similarly, remember your strengths. If you’re a fabulous blues piano player, then there is nothing wrong in playing up to that, in the hope of becoming the “go to” musician for blues piano. However, this does run the chance of narrowing your perception to other musicians, so be careful
2. Get to know your local music scene
As a would-be session musician, you aren’t going to be able to jump straight on stage with Christina Aguilera, no matter how good you are.
You’re going to have to start small, and this means getting out to the local open mic nights and the gigs by artists that are popular in your area. These are the places you might be able to get started, and the more people that see you perform, the better the chances are of you getting booked for your next gig.
I was playing percussion for a friend of mine, who knew a singer I wanted to work with. I remember finding out that they were going to be in the audience at a gig I we were playing, so I practiced really hard for a week or so to get ready – my hope was that they’d like what they heard and maybe one day book me to play a bit of percussion on one of their albums!
After the gig – to my amazement – the singer’s producer came up to me. Unfortunately, he didn’t say he’d keep me in mind for any studio work. However, he did offer me a place on her UK Tour! About 3 weeks or so later, I did my first ‘proper’ session live on BBC Radio 2 as part of Thea Gilmore’s band and my career as a session musician really started…
Daniel J Logan
3. Network with producers
Producers are usually the people responsible for booking session musicians. As such, they are the people that you need to get to know!
Speak to your friends and colleagues – who’s recording them? What producers are they working with? Are they coming to any gigs soon? You never know where having a beer with the right person might take you.
4. Learn more than one instrument
Flexibility is key to becoming a session musician, and so being proficient in more than one instrument will make you more likely to be hired. If you’re primarily a guitar player, but can also sing back-up and play some keys, then you offer the ultimate flexibility to your potential client.
Put simply, the more instruments you have even a simple working knowledge of, the more likely you are to get hired.
Find out how much it costs to get instrumental lessons.
5. Learn about the recording process
If you’re serious about becoming a session musician that works in a studio setting, then having some knowledge about the recording process itself is going to be beneficial.
Of course, there will almost always be a producer/ sound engineer present, but anything you can do to make the session flow smoothly for them will help build your reputation as being easy to work with.
This includes getting really good at playing to a click – a must for any serious session musician!
6. Build a home studio
Being able to offer professional remote recording will be a huge advantage to your session career. There will be times when an artist might not have the budget to pay for a day rate of location recording, or you might be asked to offer some “finishing touches” to a record that’s already been made, where booking a whole studio for a day could be wasteful.
Whatever the situation, having access to a good recording set up at home is definitely going to be advantageous.
For more information, read our top ten tips on building a home studio.
7. Swat up on your music theory
Not every session musician is going to be able to sight read a score straight away. In fact, some of the biggest names in the session game can’t read a note! But if you can read music well, then this is going to open you up to more gigs and jobs than those who can’t.
Even if you can’t read music notation fluently, having a good working knowledge of music theory in a practical setting is going to help you in any musical situation – especially if you are playing with musicians you have never met before.
How much music theory should you learn? Find out here.
8. Do your homework on the big names
If you want to be a full-time session player, the road is going to be long and hard. However, whether it is for hints and tips about how they got there, or simply for inspiration, try and study up on the big-time session musicians that you would like to emulate.
Try looking at names like Pino Palladino, Leyland Sklar, QuestLove, Nile Rodgers or Lisa Coleman to get you started.
9. Get a professional set of gear
Hopefully, this goes without saying. However, make sure that all of your equipment is of high quality. Does this mean that you need to spend tens of thousands on rare vintage instruments? Absolutely not. It is sometimes amazing how well *some* cheaper instruments can record, especially with unique “aftermarket” modifications.
However, all your gear needs to reliable and ready to go. The last thing you want is to turn up to soundcheck only to find that a crucial part of your set up isn’t working.
Check out our top 10 tips on buying instruments online for some epic advice!
10. Promote yourself well
Some of the simple laws of business promotion will apply to you as a session musician; get some business cards, a good website, a nice biography etc.
However, on top of this, you need to be able to show that you can play well and give a complete stranger a good reason to hire you!
This will mean having good quality videos and audio recordings of things that you have done in the past.
Have a look at our 60 top tips for promoting your band for more great tips!
Do you work as a session musician? What helped to get you started? Post your comments in the space below…
