”BISCUIT’S BASS BUSINESS” (1)

FROM MY COLUMN INSIDE BASS GUITAR MAGAZINE….”BISCUIT’S BASS BUSINESS” (1)

I would like to wish you all a very warm welcome to my new column “Biscuit’s Bass Business” where I will be covering topics that will hopefully assist those of you wishing to graduate to becoming a professional Bass player in the music industry.In the first few columns I will be aiming mainly at the less experienced Bass “Bashers” among you, and then catch up with you “Longer termers” very soon, so please bear with me, all will be revealed.

I am a great believer in the old saying…“If you want something bad enough”,

So with that in mind, let’s get down to Business. In order to turn your Bass playing “Hobby” into a Business, the most important things to develop initially are your playing ability which needs to reach a very high level, and also to attain as much knowledge of different genres of music as you can whilst doing so. This could take quite some time, possibly years, but learning those skills are Paramount should you wish to pursue a career in music, because the more adaptable you are, the better your chances of being offered more varied and lucrative work.

To achieve your ambition of becoming a professional musician, the process of working towards that “Goal” will require a great deal of hard work, and many a sore finger or three, but I can assure you that if your dream is to become a full time Bass player, then it is worth every minute of your time and commitment, not to mention the ton of “blown” Speakers and many a worn string along the way.

But the good news is that with enough serious effort you can indeed become that professional musician that you always wanted to be….Trust me, I’m a Bass Player!

Don’t be fooled into thinking… all that you have to do is become the “Best Player in the World” and that then everything will just fall into place, it will take a lot more than that to maintain a constant work load, so as to sustain a regular income, but it is possible as many musicians will testify, and I will reveal more about this a further down the line. Even if you get to a point where you are now able to play every Bass line known to mankind, or that you find yourself able to “Slap” a Bass at a 100 mph, there is still much to learn.

The World is full of talented Bass players, but most of them remain “Shredding” away at home, and many will be quite happy to continue on that route, but if you really want to make music your Business, you will have to perfect your craft, and market yourself in the most proactive ways. You need to get recognised musically,visually and verbally, and these are the issues that will go into in more detail in subsequent columns, so stay tuned my friends.