The Guitar Player's Resource
No one succeeds in the music business who doesn't already utilize the five key elements used by massively successful pro musicians. Until you learn about these key elements and start creating a foundation based on them, your music career will quickly head off-course... never to recover again.
Pay close attention to these five key elements and get started building your successful career in music:
All of the most well-known and successful musicians did not achieve their goals by thinking realistically about what seemed possible. On the contrary, they focused their mind like a laser only on what they truly wanted. When you make your goals in line with the things you want most, you will be much more motivated to actually achieve them. More on this in a moment...
Think about this - out of the following choices, which choice would inspire you to put all your time and energy into growing a music career?
a) Recording some songs and uploading them online. Then maybe trying to sell them for 99 cents each if you can find someone to check them out.
OR
b) Writing chart topping songs for a killer band, then promoting your music by going on a massive world tour - playing to stadiums full of fans, earning tons of money from music sales alone and never working a regular job ever again.
Even if your goals in the music business are entirely unrelated to releasing music, the point still applies: don't let yourself accept anything less than what you truly want in your music career, just for the sake of being realistic. Life is too precious to live it by not doing the things you really desire. When you set goals for yourself that do not inspire you, it is nearly guaranteed that you will never achieve the things you truly desire in music.
All of the great musicians you have ever known, are just normal people like you. They started from humble beginnings - whether it was without a band, having low musical skills or not understanding how the music industry works (as well as countless other situations). Imagine what kind of outcome would have happened for them had they decided that it wasn't 'realistic' to sell records worldwide, tour internationally and build a huge fan base. Well, they didn't... they chose to pursue big goals and this is very fortunate for them (and the music industry as a whole).
Be like them. Start building your music career based only on the goals that motivate you the most!
Unsuccessful musicians make a critical mistake when planning the achievement of their musical goals: they begin from where they are and work toward the end goal.
On the other hand, musicians who achieve great success do something completely different. They plan their music career by beginning from the end point of achieving their goals, and work backwards to the present day. They imagine themselves having already accomplished their major goals, then build their lives around this vision. This is a much more effective way of accurately determining the actions required for putting together your music career. Learn how this is done by checking out this article on how to reach your musical goals.
Become clear on the specific action you must take to reach your goals in the music business by working with a music career success coach.
Your music career success is dependent on possessing the above two keys. However, simply having 'goals' and a plan to reach them is not enough to actually do it. You must 'take action' day in and day out until your goals are completed. This might seem like a common sense thing to say, but the truth is, tons of musicians fail to take action on realizing their musical dreams and never end up doing anything.
Consider the following situation (this is something I discuss to motivate the great musicians I mentor): You've just found out about a disease you contracted that requires major surgery. If you don't get this surgery, you are guaranteed to die in no more than half a year. To make matters worse, the surgery is extremely expensive and cannot be covered by your insurance company (also you can't borrow money to pay for it). So you have a decision to make: You can allow yourself to die, or you can take whatever action is necessary to get the money needed for the surgery.
Certainly this example is extreme, but it is a perfect illustration of the kind of mindset you need to have in order to build a successful music career. Making big moves (by taking action) in your music career is completely different than sitting around waiting for things to happen for you (allowing yourself to 'die').
With this in mind, hard work/consistent action does not necessarily equal music career success, when you don't know exactly what you should be doing to reach your goals. This is why you need to work with a music career success coach, so you can be sure you are always moving closer to your ultimate musical goals.
No matter what you do, something will always go wrong in your music career plans. Whenever you are faced with unexpected events in your music career, this is the time when your commitment will be put to the test. For instance, here are some challenging situations you could face:
Here is how to develop the dedication needed to reach your music career goals:
Take out the piece of paper you have that contains the list of your written goals (that you put together in key #1 above). Then beside each one write down the big reasons you have for pursuing them. For every musical goal you have, answer this question: "Why do I want to achieve this?" Spend a lot of time thinking about this for each goal before you write down your response, and look over your goals/reasons two times every day.
When you do this, you'll develop the ability to maintain motivation and stay focused on the major reasons you have for reaching your goals. This will help you move forward in the difficult times when your dedication is put to the test.
Learn more about this by studying the information in this article on achieving big music career goals.
Even after you possess all four of the keys described above, you can still fail at building a successful music career. This can happen when you don't know what to do next, are (subconsciously) sabotaging yourself or are using poor strategies for reaching your musical goals. The final key required for music career success is the training of an experienced music industry mentor.
A true mentor does not merely instruct you on what you should be doing or tell you about the inner workings of the music industry. Instead, a great mentor helps you bring out the strengths you developed through attaining the first four keys and makes sure you are on the right path toward your goals at all times, while keeping you away from the obstacles that many musicians face (that often lead to them to failure). Without this expert guidance, you are trying to make it in the music business with your hands over your eyes and are unable to truly take advantage of your know-how, musical skills and hard work.
Now that you are familiar with all five keys needed for music career success, take the following actions:
1. Focus on getting all the missing keys you do not currently possess.
2. Get an experienced music career mentor, so you can accomplish everything you ever dreamed of in the music industry.
Tom Hess is a professional touring guitarist and recording artist. He teaches, trains and mentors musicians from around the world.
Visit his site to discover highly effective music learning resources, guitar lessons, music career mentoring and tools including free online assessments, surveys, mini courses and more.
