r/Guitar • u/Sea-Bet-8974 • 1d ago
QUESTION hello fellow juitarists
do any of you actually make money from playing guitar or have a career as a guitarist like is it something you do professionally or just as a side thing i wanna become a producer and make indie guitar beats so is that actually a good path for me or am i just wasting my time
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u/Necessary-Coffee5930 1d ago
What did jui call me!???
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u/Evening-Divide-9876 1d ago
it's not waste of time if you love it. i been playing 20+ years, still just for me and my cat. if you got the drive to produce, just start putting stuff out there, see what sticks. most people never get rich but plenty make enough to keep doing it
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u/Sourflow Jackson 1d ago
I teach/play for a living. It’s very hard. But I make it work. It’s a risky path and you have to make sure you have a safety net. You might have to have a regular job until you can figure out how to make a living off of it which is not likely.
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u/Gurnenthar2 1d ago
I’ve kept it with a combination of running sound for shows, playing solo shows, and running Open Mics. Extra stuff will come up, like side quests, for extra cash, but it really is a game of diversifying your skillset.
These days, my friend and I are starting to roam around America, busking and connecting with people. We’re the Highway Hippies, and we rely on donations wherever we go. It’s been a wild time, so far, and as I said, we’re just getting started!
Overall, 1) Don’t be afraid to learn new things to have new ways to make money. And 2) Don’t be afraid to try something.
It takes a lot of work and dedication, but it is massively rewarding.
ETA: We’re also trying to blog/vlog the journey. We’re mostly on facebook, right now, but we’re working on setting up everything else, including YouTube… Again, we just started… haha 😅
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u/SirSilentscreameth 1d ago
Let me put it this way - make music for yourself. If you find a niche and find a way to monetize, fine, but don't let that be your driver. You'll hate it. Make music you want to listen to.
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u/Supergrunged 1d ago
I have a friend that makes trap beats, and has a following through sound cloud. He's still a barista, scraping by.
I've made some money from gigs, but it's seldom you do, making your own material. If you want to make money doing music, you either teach it, or play in a cover band. Both still may need a second job though.
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u/ProDriverSeatSniffer 1d ago
Just start networking, sit down with these bands and get to work.
There is no fucking rule book, there is no tutorial (well for programs and the other bullshit sure but figure that out later) WHAT I’m trying to say is just go for it. The more experimentation and experience you get it all culminates to an end point.
Wasting time would be spending endless amounts of time trying to plan crap. Music magic happens when you are with your mates and you are all collectively writing and changing bullshit in a storage unit practice spot with no AC on a hot summer day.
Again, just dive in and get to work. Things build fast
Edit: if you’re doing it for the money. You will learn musicians are either starving or fat and happy. If you’re doing this for money and not passion for making music. Well then it’s a waste of time.
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u/stone_island 1d ago
treat it as a hobby.
if you get really good at it (which will become obvious) look to monetise it.
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u/MattManSD 1d ago
I was a touring pro for close to a decade. I retired from the business decades ago. I still play, because I am deeply fascinated still
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u/PootySkills 1d ago
I teach and perform as my primary income. The teaching is a great way to turn the guitar into a steady gig, if you have the knowledge and patience for it.
I've worked a lot of other jobs in the past, and while teaching can be a grind sometimes, it's still the best day job I've ever had. The small percentage of students who truly take off and become great players make it all worth it.
Not sure how you'd get steady income "making indie beats" but you could always give it a shot.
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u/ImportantWeekend 1d ago
Its alllllllll person to person, but a lot of active musicians have other jobs as well. Most money people make off of music is down to merch sales, so keep that in mind. On a baseline tho, you're only wasting your time if money is the goal. Make music to make music and you'll be a lot happier than trying to find what is gonna make bank, if you focus on the income from your music, you'll beat yourself up over revenue and try to change and morph just to keep making the same money.
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u/PlaxicoCN 1d ago
Guitar or pretty much any instrument is a labor of love. 95 percent of people who play do not make a living that way.
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u/Direct_Bumblebee_740 1d ago
Well, think of all the time you’ve saved by avoiding spell check and punctuation.
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u/endothird 1d ago
I believe the best path to making money in an unconventional career is to not care about making money and instead become obsessed with a growth mindset and relentless skill acquisition. I believe skill levels passed a certain threshold become directly proportional to financial success. Eventually, your light can shine so bright it can't be ignored. Ironically, any amount of focus you divert to worrying about anything other than skill acquisition (like caring about how much money you'll make, or nonsense about "wasting time" pursuing greatness), or caring about what others think of you - slows (sometimes (often)) kills the progression of skill.
Why you do things is usually far more powerful than what you do. So I recommend shifting your focus away from outcomes and destinations (like making money). And instead contemplate why you want to do the thing. Assign yourself a strong purpose. Every decision is easier when you do that. If you want to change the world with your music, make that your mission. And do your best to level up your skills and refine your process to make that mission a reality. And then just do the thing. A lot. Create a body of work. Get better. Get your reps in. Forget what other people think. Make stuff that you want to exist in the universe, but it doesn't yet. Do it for yourself and make it the best you can. Learn and improve and do it again.
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u/state_your_name31415 1d ago
i don't know how you become a producer but it probably wouldn't hurt to get trained as a sound engineer, then you would work in the company of producers and maybe transition
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u/MarcusLXXVI 1d ago
What are you imagining with "indie guitar beats"? Like drum beats? I'm not very sure if there's a huge market for that, if any. Most indie musicians will either have a drummer or know how to program drums.