The music industry is an ever expanding sector of the creative arts. With the advances in technology access to music is almost universal. As a result of the sector’s growth there is a plethora of jobs available to those with the dedication and skill to pursue. I have always loved session work but have never fully looked into the ins and outs of the job so I am taking this assignment as an opportunity to explore this avenue.
I have played guitar for many different singers through the 10 years I have played guitar and have met many guitarists who work as session musicians so I will first lay out my basic insights into the profession before beginning with research.
First and foremost I am very aware that making a living off of just session work is incredibly hard and most musicians I have met have a ‘portfolio career’ where they have numerous jobs within the industry to live off, be that sound engineering, teaching, composing etc. Through playing for different singers I am also aware that different artists will want different things from you; some will have a very set vision of what they want you to play whereas some will give much more creative freedom and want you to come up with your own ideas. It can involve either performing artists’ songs live or being a recording artist on a track or both. This about covers my basic knowledge of the job so I will now begin to dig deeper into the profession.
Despite there being no set requirements to becoming a session musician there are definitely some things you will need in order to find success. According to the ACM music school ‘ A session musician, also known as a backing or studio musician, is someone who is hired to add a backing track or instrumentation to a recording. A career in session recordings can become a source of reliable, constant work in an industry that will always need session musicians’ you will need to ‘Network’, ‘Have a portfolio’, ‘Advertise yourself’, ‘Be pretty good at almost everything, or be amazing at one thing’, ‘Improve your performance skills’, ‘Be professional’, ‘Reach out to local studios’, ‘Contact industry link’ and have ‘Patience’.
This is obviously a broad overview into the required skills but it emphasises the point that there is no set way to create a sustainable career as a session musician. It is unlike other jobs where a certain degree is required but similar in the aspect that certain skills are expected off you. For example an advanced knowledge of chords, scales and a good ear will make you a much more desirable option than someone who lacks these skills.
Seeing as how there is no one way to get into this profession, a look at someone who has made it their career will be a good way to gain insight. I decided to look at an interview / podcast Tyler Larson did with Bryan Ewald which explores Bryans experience creating a living as a working guitarist. Tyler Larson is famed for his youtube channel ‘Music is Win’ which boasts over 1.78 million subscribers with his most popular video having over 28 million views. Bryan Ewald is a product specialist for PRS which in itself speaks highly of his skill, but he is also a freelance musician, session musician and producer / writer.
Tyler Larson prefaces this podcast with a short introduction but I think it very nicely sums up the points explored in the video ‘In this episode we are going to be talking all about something that i think is really interesting and a lot of you have asked me questions about ‘How do I become a professional musician specifically a session musician how do you go from the bedroom into the studio and become an in demand guitar player’’
Bryan makes it clear that unless you are fortunate enough to ‘have a band that writes songs and is successful doing that and you can tour’ you have to ‘adaptable’ and take opportunities as they ‘sometimes bar gigs wedding gigs sometimes it’s touring sometimes it’s a studio session sometimes it’s playing tracks for commercials sometimes it’s teaching lessons’.
These encounters will obviously give you good experience as well as a potential myriad of contacts, word of mouth is very important for an aspiring guitarist.
The part that relates most to young musicians looking for a way into the industry is when Tyler asks if Bryan has any ‘overarching advice for somebody who wants to kind of have a similar career path as you’ specifically for those in their late teens or early twenties. Bryans response is long, thought out and also discusses the role of the session guitarist in most scenarios. He first points out the importance of learning about the engineering and recording process as in this modern age ‘you can sit there with a laptop and a little apollo twin and make crushingly good sounding recordings’ and ‘the more you can record and mess around with mike placements’ the better you will be. But the key takeaway from his response is his take on what makes a guitarist hirable as a session musician ‘you get hired as a studio player because you come up with memorable hooky parts that elevate the song and you play to the song you play to support the song as much as possible and not play to the guitar player ego’. You are hired to ‘elevate the song’ and not to make it all about the guitar. To me this highlights the importance of having an advanced knowledge of chords, their respective extensions. triads and the different voicings and inversions you can utilise. Rhythm playing is so often ignored in favour of fast lead guitar lines but as Bryan is saying, ‘the more you can make the artist feel like what you brought to the table helped feature them in a beautiful light you’ll get calls back’ which is hard to do if you are crowding the track with flashy guitar lines and much easier if you compliment the texture of the song. The final note I want to make on this source is in reference to Bryans closing thoughts on this question ‘more than anything try to find your voice try to find what makes you you because that’s when you become in demand’. There are a million guitar players in the world but if you can find what makes you you, you will differentiate yourself from the noise.
A huge part of session work is the ability to market and promote yourself. Rather conveniently my next source is an article from an online website designed around promoting different session musicians and function bands, ‘Last Minute Musicians’ recent clients include the BBC, John Lewis, Audi, Coca Cola, Jaguar and Selfridges. A lot of the advice is very similar to that of Bryan Ewalds which further validates this source. The source advises getting to ‘know the producer at your local studio’, or any producer as well as leaving business cards at local music shops but I think the most important piece of advice is to attend ‘local jam nights and do as many gigs to meet as many people as you can.’ The best way to promote yourself is to be present and known in your community, but equally as important gigging and jamming will help you develop your sound whilst helping you learn about the guitar’s role in songs and how to fit into a song instead of just playing over a song. You can also take advantage of modern luxuries and create a ‘simple website’ ‘ that is updated with useful information’ such as upcoming shows and your availability, rates, simple biography and any achievements you feel relevant, to refer any interested clients or colleagues to. The rest of the advice applies to any freelance profession, ‘be punctual, open-minded’ and to remember that ‘networking is a big part of any job’. To end this source I will quote one of the more important yet basic reminders and that is that ‘If you do a good job, word will get round’.
Being a session musician comes with a lot of its own legal and financial issues that you will have to explore. To explore this topic I will be looking at a couple of different sources starting with one from the musicians union, ‘the UK trade union for all musicians representing over 35,000 musicians across the UK working in all sectors of the music business’. With streaming platforms now being the main source of music consumption it is important to understand that ‘at present, session musicians will not typically receive royalties from these sources, unless it is stipulated in their recording agreement.’ meaning unless you can successfully negotiate you will not receive a cut. That being said, according to the musician union website they are currently ‘campaigning to have a fair portion of revenue from streaming services paid out to session and ‘non-featured’ performers.’
Financially speaking, being solely a session musician means you will not have financial stability due to the nature of the profession, which is why many have what is called a portfolio career where they work many different jobs in the industry. The conservatoire actually has an interesting interview on their website with Dan McDougall a singer, songwriter and session musician who confirms that in order to make a living in this industry as a musician you do need to have multiple income streams. When asked if this is ‘something you can make a living from?’ Dan responds by saying if songwriting was his only source of income he would not have made it as ‘it’s such a long winded process and takes years to get going’. ‘The fact that I earn money from production and session work allows me to make enough money to keep the songwriting up/pay my studio rent. Without those up front paid jobs, I wouldn’t survive. Having more than one skill is only going to help. Making a living from music tends to require you to be able to juggle all the eggs in all the baskets.’ Yes this is talking from the perspective of a songwriter but songwriter session musicians and producers tend to all be freelancers so the premise is the same.
Finally I would like to end with an interview on ‘WePresent’ with Samuel Organ, a ‘multi-instrumentalist’ and ‘founding member of The Physics House Band, a group who have gained widespread critical acclaim from the likes of The Guardian, The Independent, NPR and the BBC. They’ve toured and performed notable shows alongside artists such as Alt-J, Django Django and Omar-Rodriguez Lopez’.
This interview is actually a really interesting read starting with an anecdote about Mark Knophler’s less than desirable recording experience with Steely Dan. The first of Samuel’s quotes I particularly like is something that really resonates with me ‘ the joy of doing session work comes from the lack of creative pressure and ego. “You’re literally just there to help people,” he says, “so it doesn’t have the same energy drain as when you’re working on your own stuff. When you’re pursuing your own artistic endeavors, it’s incredibly exhausting. It demands an objective self-awareness where you view yourself and the things you make as a product, and that takes a lot out of you.”’. There is a bit to unpack there but the reason I resonate so much with this is because I always struggle to come up with my own music from scratch as I am such a perfectionist but having a base to start from helps massively as I love coming up with little guitar lines and parts for songs but when it is my own music I really struggle, ‘Session work, by contrast, is all about helping someone else to achieve their vision’.
Another useful piece of wisdom further validates Bryan Ewald in my second source. ‘It all has to be approached with a sense of adaptability. Or at least just not expecting anything to last’. Bryan spoke a lot about adaptability so this does just further confirm the validity of these two sources. According to this interview/article ‘Organ now earns a good chunk of his living recording samples for Splice and Novation’, which to me is such an interesting area of music that I would love to get into as ‘It’s good work to fill the gaps and there seems to be no shortage of it. Using loops and samples is such a huge part of music creation now for so many different companies, and the day rate for that work is better than going out on the road for 12- or 15-hour days.”’. Music is moving more and more into the digital realm to getting into this realm of music will not hurt.
I hope I have made clear just how adaptable you need to be to make it as a session musician. It is a career most people pair with something else which to me is a good thing as I would love to teach as well as play in function bands.
Bibliography
Source 1: ACM (2019) How To Become a Session Musician. Available online: https://www.acm.ac.uk/how-to-become-a-session-musician/
Source 2: Music is Win (2018) How to Become a Session Guitarist (ft. Bryan Ewald) | The Music is Win Podcast – Ep. 24 . Available online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44xban4BDaw
Source 3: Last Minute Musicians (?) Working as a session musician (Ft Emily Dolan Davies). Available online: https://www.lastminutemusicians.com/how_to_get_gigs/work-as-a-session-musician/
Source 4: Musicians’ Union (2024) Musician Royalties. Available online: https://musiciansunion.org.uk/recording-and-broadcasting/musician-royalties-from-recordings
Source 5: McDougall, D (2020) The Life Of… a Session Musician and Songwriter. Available online: https://www.leedsconservatoire.ac.uk/about-us/progression-portal/musicians-survival-guide-articles/the-life-of-a-session-musician-and-songwriter/
Source 6: Water Bear (?) Samuel Organ. Available online: https://waterbear.org.uk/tutors/samuel-organ/#:~:text=Samuel%20Organ%20is%20a%20founding,Django%20and%20Omar%2DRodriguez%20Lopez.
Source 7: Cartwright, J (2022) Stuff They Don’t Tell You What’s it really like being a session musician?. Available online: https://wepresent.wetransfer.com/stories/stuff-they-dont-tell-you-session-musicians
