Hi,
First of all, let me tell you about myself and my situation I'm 23 years old. I have been playing the guitar for about 10 years. I am comfortable playing live, writing music, playing many styles, and working with others. I have experience playing in bands to the point of gigging and making some cash in bars and parties with my previous band. My biggest problem since high school has been finding dedicated people who actually want to make a living in music. I found people who will commit to it and even say how much they want to do it, but aren't willing to make sacrifices or even put in the work to do it. Only 2 out of 5 people in my previous band felt sure about actually doing it for a living. The others felt like rockstars for playing a few parties and local bars, but weren't even considering doing more with it even though with discipline it can be done.
I have always known what I wanted to do. I know we all feel doubts, but I always loved it that much. I have two degrees in music. And after doing a lot of reading both in school and out(the savvy musician!) I realize that it can be done, to make a living out of doing what you love. I live in a college town in North California of about 100,000 people and I know that it's simply not enough people. I do play with a drummer who is very serious like me(he used to play in my previous band with me), but he has college debt and is a lot more attached to this area than I am. I worked selling cell phones during college so my financial situation is a little better(very managable debt, i have my own car, and more than decent guitar gear,). We put many ads to find singers and bass players but we only found jokers, untalented people, people who just started playing, and well both of have been doing it for a long time.
So my plan now is to move to San Diego. Originally I thought of LA and SF, but both places seem a lot more expensive with a lot more competition. I used to live in the bay area and I was never into the weather or the vibe there(too crowded and too expensive). LA seems more tempting but because of the price of living and all the people and smog I've come to the conclusion San Diego may be better for me. There are 3 million people there with LA an hour or two away if i have gigs there. There is also less competition, a higher income on average than LA and cheaper rent. I'm also mexican so latin music is always an option(I speak Spanish very well). I also have a couple of friends down there(networking!) one who used to be my drummer in high school, and a girl who grew up there but went to college up here for a little bit.
I plan to maybe open up a website sort of like David Hahn's, (only better, no just kidding I really liked the website), give guitar lessons, perhaps join a band, and have my own original music, while working on improving my piano skills. I'm very drawn to the idea of being self-employed. I'm surprised also to see that this website doesn't have the numbers of people it should. My impression so far is that many musicians and aspiring musicians just aren't that informed....
Any advice or ideas? You can listen to some of the music I've done in my myspace.com/germanmmusic
most of the recordings are not high end so bear with me
