Author: Tom Hess

Have you always wanted to start a career in music, but feel like you do not know exactly what to do in order to succeed as a professional musician? The truth is, most musicians feel just like you. Out of the thousands and thousands of musicians who pursue a career in music, very few truly achieve success at a very high level. In most cases, these musicians are clueless about what they should be doing to further their careers. As a result, many of them waste a lot of time and effort only to become frustrated and give up on their musical dreams. However, it does not have to end up like this for you and your music career.

The key to starting a career in music and becoming successful is finding a great mentor who has already reached the highest level of success in the music industry. In most cases, simply being around someone in the music business who knows a lot more than you is highly beneficial. That said, if you are able to not only be “around” someone like this, but also receive direct advice from him about your own music career challenges, your potential success as a professional musician will increase massively!

As an example, think about the world famous basketball star Michael Jordan. Even if you are not a basketball fan, it is likely that you have heard of the incredible success that Jordan achieved throughout his career. Over the span of about two decades, Jordan became known as one of the best athletes ever (in any sport) as he broke countless records, won many championships, and made a lot of money from his player salary, not to mention through endorsements, shoe sales, and other means. By himself, Jordan was certainly a very talented athlete; however, he did not make it to the top alone. In every moment of his legendary career, Jordan continually received the advice, coaching and training of many mentors both within basketball and outside of basketball. As a result, he was able to take the incredible natural ability he had to play and turn it into something truly unforgettable. In fact, this situation is not exclusive to Michael Jordan, any athlete who has ever achieved incredible success has always maintained connection to a mentor even after winning major titles, awards or medals.

Similarly, if your goal is to succeed in your music career, you will be able to achieve much more by finding a mentor who can change you from a talented amateur musician to a successful music professional. In order to find a great mentor for your music career, it is important for you to know what qualities you should be looking for in such a person. Here are the top three qualities of a music career mentor who can help you become highly successful:

1. Has already reached a very high level of success and is be able to help you solve any of the specific problems that are holding you back in your music career.

Starting a career in music is often a very frustrating experience for most musicians. Although there is a great deal of information about the music business online, most of it is intended for use by the general music community. You may have specific questions for your own challenges in your music career, but no specific answers to help you deal with them. On top of that, the music industry information you find online does not help you understand the difference between “useful” information and information that either no longer applies to most musicians or does not apply for you in your own music career. This is why it is absolutely essential that you find a mentor who understands the inner workings of the music industry and has already built a successful career by figuring these things out.

When you have access to personalized advice from someone like this, you will quickly be able to solve any issues that arise in your music career. This will give you the ability to approach a career in music with a clear understanding of exactly what needs to get done in order to reach your personal goals.

2. Knows how to keep you on the right track toward reaching your music career goals.

In order to maintain success throughout your music career, you will need to keep your biggest goals in mind with each action you take. It is easy for most musicians to become distracted in their music careers and lose direction, which often leads them down a long and frustrating path as they seem to be “doing things” in their music career, but in fact are not working toward what it is that they truly want to achieve. Additionally, the majority of musicians do not understand how to pursue their music career goals in a highly focused manner by using an effective strategy. These musicians generally see limited to no success and as a result are forced to work outside of the music business.

When looking for your mentor, you must make sure that this person understands how to build highly effective strategies to help you achieve your music career goals as quickly as possible. With that in mind, it is possible that even with the right strategy in place, you may still become distracted, confused or uncertain throughout the course of your music career. Your mentor should also be able to instantly spot when these things are occurring for you and know how to help you overcome any momentary issues so that you can continue down the path to your goals.

If you are enthusiastic about building a career in music, but have not yet examined your own musical goals, it is important that you figure them out as soon as possible. Get started by reading this pro musician goals page and find out how to identify exactly what you want from a career in music.

3. Has previously helped other musicians become highly successful in the music industry (and can show you the proof!)

The music industry is unique from many other industries because becoming successful with a career in music does not require attending university programs, receiving a degree or taking any kind of special tests. That said, it is much easier for amateur musicians to “talk big” when it comes to their music careers. Sometimes you will come across people in the music industry who claim to be highly successful, when in fact they are not. As you begin looking for a music career mentor, it is very crucial that you avoid the advice of these types of musicians and find someone who can really back up his claims of success in the music business.

A reliable method for determining whether or not a mentor can really help you in your music career is to observe the success of the musicians who he currently works with or who have worked with him in the past. A mentor who can truly help you succeed with a career in music will not necessarily need to tell you this directly. Instead, it will be obvious due to the overwhelming amount of positive feedback he receives from current as well as past musicians who have worked with this mentor and who have themselves become successful in music. In the music business, a positive reputation takes a very long time to build. If you find a mentor with a reputation of getting big results for many musicians, then the chances are very good that he can do the same for you. You can check for this by looking for reviews, testimonials or general feedback on your mentor’s website or other places online, but also try to find other sources as well because it’s not all that hard to create an online image that has nothing to do with reality.

As someone who has personally trained many people to become successful professional musicians, I cannot stress enough the importance of finding a mentor as you pursue a career in music. Fact is, I would not be where I am today in the music business if it weren’t for the help of my current and former mentors. Don’t make the mistake of trying to figure everything out on your own in the music business. This is the same thing that so many musicians do, and this is why most musicians do not make it with successful music careers. Get the training, coaching and guidance a great mentor right now, and reach your full potential as a professional musician.

Start a career in music and become a professional musician by first watching the video on this music career mentoring page.

Do you still have doubts about getting a music career mentor? Find out more about your current potential to become a professional in the music business by taking this pro musician analysis and see if a mentor can help you.

About The Author: 

Tom Hess is a touring guitarist, composer and a mentor to musicians. He plays in the band Rhapsody Of Fire. Tom also trains musicians internationally on how to get into the music industry. Visit tomhess.net to get free music business tips and music career resources.

Photo by Flavio

Are you having a difficult time finding serious musicians for your band? If so, you are not alone. Not only do smaller bands struggle with this, but even popular bands have problems in this area. In order to achieve success as a team, you must build it with dedicated musicians. To help you with this, I have put together seven rules that all bands need to pay attention to:

Rule #1: If your band is made up of musicians who are highly motivated, dedicated, and goal oriented, you can reach the highest levels of success in the music business.

Rule #2: If your band is full of musicians who do not have a strong commitment to a successful music career, then it is very unlikely that you will accomplish anything significant in the music industry.

Rule #3: It is very common for potential band members to “talk big,” but not actually follow up on what they say. Every musician wants to become highly successful in music, but very few musicians will truly put out the effort in order to achieve success. You will run into these kinds of people frequently. People like this will want to join your band, but won’t be able to help your band in the long run – in fact, they will only slow down your progress. Keep away from these types of musicians at all costs.

Rule #4: Building a highly successful band means going above and beyond what other bands are willing to do in terms of effort. Most bands do not make it big because some of the members in the band are not as dedicated as the others. In fact, this happens to bands who have already made a name for themselves as well. If your band contains one or more members who are not actively doing their part to help out, this can have a very negative effect on the band’s future as a whole. Whenever you notice that these people are not working as hard as everyone else, talk to them about it immediately. Give them a single opportunity to turn their behavior around. If they do not change for the better (and very soon), kick them out of the band.

Here is a great quote from Pat O’Bryan:

“It is shocking to see the overwhelming amount of musicians, artists, and entertainers who just wait around for somebody to give them the opportunity of a lifetime while they follow along with whatever other musicians, artists, and entertainers are doing.

“Unfortunately it is a case of the blind following the blind in a never-ending cycle. Not a very successful plan, but for some reason it is the most popular.”

Rule #5: It is not always easy to spot the wrong band members. Sometimes you will come across musicians who are very good at playing music, but who still lack the mindset necessary to become highly successful. Although it is nice to have great musicians in your band, you must always think of the big picture of where your band is going. From here, it is much easier to judge the value of other musicians, and work to find the right people for your band. If someone is not the right band member, you must replace them regardless of how good of a musician he might be.

Rule #6: Finding the right band members may sometimes seem like an impossible task. However, remember that the most dedicated musicians are also looking for you at the same time that you are looking for them. These people are also going through the same difficulties as you, and share the same desire to play in a successful band as you do.

Rule #7: A lot of people make the mistake of not considering recruiting musicians who play in already accomplished and successful bands. Fact is, there are many musicians who play in these kinds of bands who are unsatisfied with the effort of the other members. Additionally, it is very common that successful bands are looking to find the right band members to replace their current musicians who are not working out.

It is certainly a big challenge to find the right musicians for your band. Do not be discouraged. Keep your motivation by thinking about what it will be like when you have finally put together a band full of all the right musicians. Your band will have action-oriented team players who are highly motivated, and dedicated to success…With all these pieces in place, your band will able to accomplish anything in the music business!

Learn about all the necessary steps to take while looking for the right band members by going to this page and downloading this free eBook on finding the right musicians for your band.

About the author:
Tom Hess is a touring musician and guitarist for the symphonic metal band Rhapsody Of Fire. He trains, mentors, and coaches musicians to achieve success in the music industry and has joined together with Alex Staropoli and Draven Grey to make a rock band success program to help musicians worldwide take their rock bands to the next level. On his website http://tomhess.net, you can find music career training resources for both bands and solo music artists.

Photo by Anirudh Koul