My career was built on singing, not bass playing, but I have found and carved out ways to play bass more over the years. I currently split time between music directing, performing as a soloist and choral artist, and composing.
My trajectory after high school included bachelor and master degrees in vocal music/opera, and being in a community that could use my talents and skills. I had moved away from Cincinnati to the Bay Area, and was basically one of four or five pro tenors in my "generation" in town. What I learned was that these other guys were not my competition, but the best friends I could ask for: we just traded most of the work in the regional companies. Everyone had niches, though.
Getting to know the various music directors and being completely dependable in town really helped, and pretty soon I wasn't needing to audition anymore--I'd just get a call. I did a ridiculous amount of work in a seven-year period, and then found a full-time touring gig based in the Twin Cities through a colleague in my young artist program at a major company.
Through that touring job (which was an artist-led ensemble), I built up my skills over ten years as an arranger, chamber musician, entrepreneur, casting/network director, etc. with the support and sounding board of my colleagues in the group--all at the same time as performing across the country. After leaving that job, I purveyed that into a church choir director job, and returned to the solo and choral singing fields as a freelancer, and nudged my arranging into a composing direction, which provides a small income stream which I'm trying to increase.
All that said: The lesson is that it's important to identify what you do best, or can grow into. I am better at being a jack of all trades, so have leaned into that. I have friends who are very specific in their niche, and they have had their luck via specialization. If you can play funk better than anyone, go hang out with that community and find your connections there. If you are stylistically agnostic, keep a foot and an arm in the folk, classical, and jazz worlds.
Also: look at a career as a combination of various income streams, until one or more of them flow into a larger river. Sometimes they never do, and you can play in a variety of streams forever, but the ways to make money as a performer can be varied and bits and pieces. It isn't the most stable of scenes.
Best of luck!
