Does anyone do this for a *profession*

preferences and realities are totally different beasts.

 

old joke -

3 men in a bar
1st guy says - " I make 250K a year..I'm a lawyer"
the 2nd guy says - : I make 500K a year, I'm a doctor.

the third guys says - I make 6K a year.

the other two guys say in unison...- " what kind of strings do you use?"

badum bump ..

 

It is though. Be real for a second. Given the opportunity, don't you think the majority of people here, who ARE passionate about playing, wouldn't KILL to have music be their source of income? I'm sure they would. BUT, if the majority were to bank on that being their only vocation, a great many would starve. Many of us also wanted homes, families, etc. Hence their more monetarily-gainful professions.

 

I'm not sure I would.....

So OK music is great if you can do what you want to - but I have been in bands that made money and it was always a case of then playing what other people wanted you to play and this can get pretty boring...

Also - as an "expert" who is highly regarded, I am treated with respect where I work - but I've played wedding gigs where we were treated with less respect than the people who came to clean the toilets!! I'm pretty sure I'd be unable to keep my mouth shut for many gigs like that!!

All in all, I think I'm happier playing the music I like, as a kind of "hobby" and earning money from a job where I get respect.

 

Bruce, I agree, but my reply was in keeping with the spirit of the thread as it was,imo, with a "I think I'll just do music for a living on my own terms because it's just that easy" rose-colored-glasses mentality. I'm not being catty mind you.

 

if the oppertunity presented itself I'd jump on it. I"m not banking on it happening though

 

Yeah, but you're special! And some people here don't know who you work for!

 

I side with Neil Peart on this. There are others things I'd rather do than play music that I wasn't totally behind. I have other interests, and I'd prefer to keep music as my sort of refuge.

 

that's a good one..
then there's the quote from Les Claypool -
"In the early days all I hoped was to make a living out of what I did best. But, since there's no real market for masturbation I had to fall back on my bass playing abilities."

 

Pac, I appreciate your sentiments, but of course you knew I meant there were exceptions. You being one of them.

 

It's been about 5 years since I was playing as my mainstay, which I did for 15 years, but I'm in the middle of getting ready to do it again.

Right now we're the house band at a hot springs resort which unfortunately only means 4 nights a month. The owner wanted us to do Fri/Sat but since I'm also the main snowmobile guide and in charge of trails, not to mention lots of counter work and customer support, I really didn't want to do all that and two nights.

Assuming we get going again it'll be back to 2-6 nights a week with 3-4 being my favorite!

 

I don't

 

I don't think anyone's being "unsupportive". I think they're being realistic. There's a difference.

 

I would rather be a pro musician, but I never felt confident enough in my ability to make a decent living at it. So I am a garage band weekend warrior bass player.

-or-

I would rather be a SCUBA guide in a tropical location, but I knew there was no real money to be earned doing that. (Maybe in retirement, but I have no plan for a formal retirement)