A Guide to Being a Successful Sideman

There are many levels of sideman work, from playing in a small-town cover band to backing up Sting, and lots in between. But there are some general guidelines that apply to just about any sideman gig you can get, and hopefully keep.

1.) Become a Stylist

The best way to ensure that you can get work as a sideman is to be competent in several musical styles or genres. The short list is: rock, pop, jazz, blues, R&B. You can also choose to build on that list with some specialties, like country, classical or funk.

Chances are, you’ll end up working in only a couple main genres with an occasional gig in another, but you want to start out with this mantra in mind: my specialty is not having a specialty. This leaves you open for many types of gigs, and once you get going you can steer yourself towards the genres you prefer. Keep in mind, however, that having a long list of styles on your resume doesn’t amount to anything on the bandstand if you aren’t competent in them. It’s better to play 3 styles well than to claim to play 7 styles but play them poorly.

This leads us to our next topic…