2013 Goals

Every year, I review the previous year's goals and set new ones. I usually come up with quite a list, but I'm narrowing it down this year. Here are my goals for 2013.

1. Land higher quality gigs. For the first time since picking up the guitar, I've been satisfied with the frequency of my gigs. In 2013, I'd like to have about the same (or slightly more) gigs, but with a higher percentage of good paying jobs. Nearly all of my gigs are for pay now. Many of them are restaurant gigs that pay okay, but not great. I'm certainly not complaining about the restaurant gigs. It's nice to have steady work. I would just like to find more corporate gigs in the next year.
2. Recruit a roster full of students. I have a handful of students now. I've been teaching from home, but now I'm signed on to teach at Tessitura. I'm the first and only guitar teacher at Tessitura, so I'm in a good position to pick up new students with no in-house competition. Twenty students sounds about right. I enjoy teaching, and twenty students would help provide steady income while still leaving enough time for practicing, gigs, and my church job.
3. Increase my hours at Northwest Unitarian Universalist Congregation from 10 to 15. Currently, my duties are to run the choir, to provide music once a month myself, to coordinate music for Sunday services in general. Based on conversations I've had with congregants, there seems to be increasing interest in forming a children's choir. Having the extra hours would allow me time to do so. I'll need to convince the board and the congregation that this is a good idea.
4. Find a guitar teacher. I'm happy with the progress I made as a guitarist in 2012, especially in the area of improvisation and general technique. As usual, there are a lot of things I want to improve, but trying to get better at everything at once can make you feel scattered and overwhelmed. Working with a teacher again will help me refocus. This year, I'd like to find a guitar teacher to 1) help me develop more comping ideas, 2) help me develop more improvisation ideas, and 3) kick my butt in the area of repertoire, especially memorization.

Things went pretty well in the second half of 2012. I just want to keep doing more of the same in 2013, but with my sights set a little higher.

Creating My Own Gigs

This December has been a great month for gigs, and surprisingly, January is nearly booked as well. In general, I'm finding that I'm booked for a gig on any given weekend each month. There is a downside to this…well, not exactly a downside. I play with a few different people, and I've had to learn a different set of music for nearly every show this month. Even though I'm playing mostly Christmas music, I'm playing the same songs in different keys, different tempos, and different styles. This is a great way to learn to be flexible and expand my horizons, but it's also a lot of work to keep up with. With limited preparation time, I feel like I've had barely enough time to do an adequate job for any given show.

The upside to this is that I feel that I've become a better overall guitar player over the past few weeks. The downside is that I feel scattered and unfocused.

Next year, rather than play a bunch of different gigs over the holidays, I'd like to create a show that I can either take to different venues or play in one place for a holiday run. I would like to make a transition from playing restaurant and corporate gigs to putting shows together…creating my own gigs. Most musicians are doing what I'm doing now, chasing after the same types of gigs. By creating my own shows, I could collaborate with other types of artists and expand my possibilities. I'm sure this would take more effort on my part, but I think it would be worth it.

The reason I'm thinking about a holiday show for next year is that it gives me plenty of time to kick around some ideas, and it would be probably be easier to create and promote a Christmas show for starters. After that, I could start developing other types of shows. I imagine that I would begin with only one or two shows a year. After gaining experience and developing a network of collaborators and contacts, maybe I could do more.

For now, I just want to get through December. Starting in January, I'll start kicking around ideas. We'll see what happens!

Getting Gigs

I started playing guitar in 2003…really more like 2004, since I received my first guitar for Christmas in 2003. Even when I was learning my first chords, the fire to become a performing musician once again was rekindled. By 2007, I had enough of a repertoire that I could start playing in places and looking for groups to play in. For the most part, I played in retirement homes and coffee shops for free. Since then, my total number of gigs each year has grown gradually but steadily. This year, for the first time, every single Friday and Saturday in December is booked, and I have a few weekday gigs lined up, too. All of these except one are paid gigs. The way things are going, I'm confident that in another few years, I'll continue to be booked, and that the quality of my gigs (in other words, pay) will increase.

So how do you get gigs? For me, it's a little tricky, because my style of playing is especially well suited for background music. When you're playing background music, you don't necessarily want to wow the crowd, because that's not your job. On the other hand, you do want to be remembered by the client or someone else from the event so that they will hire or recommend you in the future.

So here are my suggestions for getting gigs. This is what's been working for me. There's nothing here that I haven't read or heard somewhere else. This kind of advice is all over the place, but I'm surprised at the number of musicians who don't do many of these things.

1. Have something to offer. You need to have a repertoire, and you need to be playing something that people want to hear. You don't need to be a virtuoso. I'm certainly not, and I'm not the kind of guitar slinger to can play all styles convincingly. I have a repertoire of solo guitar arrangements of classic jazz songs, mostly from the '30s and '40s. I have a pleasant voice and a guitar style that's easy on the ears. This combination lends itself well to background music.
2. Be clear what you offer. On my website and on my Gig Salad profile, I make it pretty clear that I'm a good background musician.
3. And did I just mention my website? Yes, I did. You must have a web presence. You can start your own page on Facebook and tweet on Twitter to your heart's content, but you really need to have your own website, where you control the content and the look. When someone emails you for more information about your music, it looks very professional when you can send them a link to your site. Also, you will eventually start getting gigs because people come across your website. Most of my upcoming gigs have come as a result of someone finding me through an online search. I also landed a spot in a quartet through my website. They were in need of a new guitar player. The drummer found my site, heard my music, and contacted me. Next thing you know, I'm playing with a group that gigs on a regular basis. This has not happened overnight. I've had my website up for a few years now, but it's only been recently that new clients have been finding me through my site. Just stick with it and maintain an online presence.
4. Stay busy. One of the best ways to get gigs is to have gigs. This is a conundrum when you're just starting, because you don't have any gigs yet! So, you need to find opportunities to play in public and be seen. I did this mostly through playing at retirement homes, coffee shops, and open mics. Even if you're just playing for tips at first, it's good to have some performance dates on your calendar that you can point to. It's also a good way to practice performing in public. And you just never know who's listening. Someone picked up my business card at a coffee shop a few years ago and waited until a couple months ago to contact me about playing a wedding. So, if you don't have any paid gigs, or you don't have many, it doesn't hurt to play somewhere for tips. I look at "for tips" gigs as advertising.
5. Have a business card. This is crucial for any musician, but I think it goes double for background musicians. Wherever I play, I bring a stack of cards. If it's okay with the client, I'll distribute a few cards to each table, in hopes that a few people will take my card home with them. At the very least, I'll keep a small stack of cards near me so that anyone who wanders my way can pick one up. I always make sure to give a card to my client at the end of the gig, even if they already have my contact information. The next time they're looking to book music for a party, seeing my card in their card collection could make the difference between being hired or being forgotten.
6. Act like a pro. Be courteous and professional in your emails or phone conversations. Dress appropriately for the gig. Show up early. Stick to non-alcholic beverages on your break. I've often had clients tell me that I'm very easy to deal with. I may not be a virtuoso, but courtesy and professionalism can take you a long way.

No doubt there are other good ideas for getting gigs, but these basics have worked for me: have something to offer, make it clear to your potential clients what it is that you offer, maintain a website, stay active publicly, have a business card, and behave like a pro.

If anyone else has their own suggestions for getting gigs, please add them to the comments section. I'm always ready to pick up another hot tip!