If Not a Musician, What Else Would You Have Become

[Joeywilson]

before I played guitar I was waaaayyyy into drawing and comic books
my goal was to be greasy and fat and 35 and living at home. At the time it sounded very cool.

Then I started playing guitar so my definition of "cool" changed a lot.
I still love to draw and there are some ill comics coming out right now

 

[All_¥our_Bass]

I'd probably be the same place job-wise.

But in my spare time I'd probably do a lot more art, poetry/writing, math, computer programming, and reading up about dinosaurs and other extinct creatures.

I still do those things but quite a bit less than before I got way into music (both the playing AND listening parts)

 

[Nidolf]

I'm studying journalism now... but I'm not sure if I'm going to finish my studies. Nearly failed the last exam because I spent too much time playing guitar and not enough time studying.

 

[mikernaut]

I have always been obsessed with music but I realized in Highschool I had more artistic talent then musical talent. So I focused more on drawing and painting.

I tried to get into comicbooks but only got a few minor jobs here and there .
Then the videogame industry really boomed and I have been working at a couple studios over the last 10 years until I recently got laid off

So I'm shopping the portfolio around and will see where life takes me next.

Having the art job is fun as it's my other passion and then I spend my paychecks on nice guitars to play in my freetime.

 

[I_infect]

I have a degree in psych, I've worked in alot of different fields, and I've built(and am still building) my house. However, music is what I want to do, no matter if I'm stringing guitars at guitar center or playing in cover band or recording demos. Money is money. It took me a long time to figure that out, and to stop listening to other people(namely family) who thought I should get a 'real job'. If I can pay the bills and live comfortably doing something with guitars/music, I'm more than happy... it's what I wanted since I was 4, jumping on my bed, looking in the mirror pretending I was Elvis. There really was nothing else I was knew I wanted to do. Probably do something where I wouldn't have to deal with the public.

 

[telecaster90]

I would probably be studying writing or political science instead of guitar right now.

 

[Empryrean]

Pharmacy is still my goal in mind, I'll need something to pay for them guitars(even if I can't play em' )

 

[Esp Griffyn]

before I played guitar I was waaaayyyy into drawing and comic books
my goal was to be greasy and fat and 35 and living at home. At the time it sounded very cool.

Then I started playing guitar so my definition of "cool" changed a lot.
I still love to draw and there are some ill comics coming out right now

Whats not cool about comics? Granted, making a living from it must be nigh on impossible unless you get picked up by someone like Marvel or DC, and then you have to be in absolute top 0.00001% of talent really. But that aside, comic books are still cool as!

 

[Joeywilson]

Whats not cool about comics? Granted, making a living from it must be nigh on impossible unless you get picked up by someone like Marvel or DC, and then you have to be in absolute top 0.00001% of talent really. But that aside, comic books are still cool as!

no i didnt mean it like that. I love comics dude.

I meant I wanted to be Fat and greasy, I don't know why haha.

 

[Adamame]

I have no idea! I started playing when I was 8. My whole family plays.

 

[AngelVivaldi]

Music has never been anything more than a bit of a lols for me, I just do it for fun. I know a number of people who have taken degrees in music and it hasn't worked out great for them. A couple of music performance degree students ended up just teaching guitar here and there, doing a bit of session work, another guy I know completed a degree in studio engineering and production, and he is still working in a bar 7 years after graduating. It would have been cool to learn all the stuff you would on a music degree, but at the same time I didn't want to graduate into a limited field. I watched a program a while ago (Location, Location, Location on channel 4 I think) where a guy was trying to make it as a composer, and some guy from the PRS consulted him and warned him that he was unlikely to make it, as only 1% of the registered composers (and I believe you have to be registered with the PRS in the UK if you want your compositions to be heard) were earning over £5000 a year.

I just didn't fancy scraping a living like that, if no one else I knew graduating from these courses was making anything out of it, then it would have been stupid to risk it if the oppertunities just were not there. I never even considered music at uni tbh, there are better fields of work to be in as far as I'm concerned.

Oh I feel you 100%. Back when I was looking at colleges one semester at Berklee was over 6k, (cant imagine how high it is now) and that was just for tuition- doesnt include books, dorm etc. Even with a degree a lot of music college graduates just wind up w/crappy teaching jobs at high schools that have no music funding.

So you'll be close to 100k in debt with STILL no guarantee that you'll make it in music. Music and art schools should really be as cheap as community colleges if you ask me. It'll compensate for the risk

 

[JohnIce]

Oh I feel you 100%. Back when I was looking at colleges one semester at Berklee was over 6k, (cant imagine how high it is now) and that was just for tuition- doesnt include books, dorm etc. Even with a degree a lot of music college graduates just wind up w/crappy teaching jobs at high schools that have no music funding.

So you'll be close to 100k in debt with STILL no guarantee that you'll make it in music. Music and art schools should really be as cheap as community colleges if you ask me. It'll compensate for the risk

Not to sound patriotic or anything, but this is what I like about Sweden... all schools, even universities, are completely free, you even get money from the state every month so you don't need to work during semesters. I'm taking a music production class next year that won't cost me a cent, save for some course litterature of course, although not much as most of it is based around the Pro Tools manual.

 

[Curt-Platt]

i was planning to be a helicopter pilot in the army, i wanted to fly apache's and joined as soon as i left school but due to going to so many gigs and not wearing the right ear protection when i was in younger i managed to develop a hearing defect and as well as 20/20 vision you have to have "perfect" hearing to fly helicopters in the British army. After 3 hearing test's on 3 different days i still didnt make the grad.

 

[AngelVivaldi]

Not to sound patriotic or anything, but this is what I like about Sweden... all schools, even universities, are completely free, you even get money from the state every month so you don't need to work during semesters. I'm taking a music production class next year that won't cost me a cent, save for some course litterature of course, although not much as most of it is based around the Pro Tools manual.

So..... when can I move in?

 

[minusthemonkey]

Ech. I tried to follow plan B when I became fully aware that I had neither the motivation nor the drive to really make a career in music...

I'm studying journalism now... but I'm not sure if I'm going to finish my studies. Nearly failed the last exam because I spent too much time playing guitar and not enough time studying.

... and that was what plan b was. I have a degree in journalism. Since graduating, I never did one lick of writing. Well, a couple stories here or there, but school effectively robbed me of any passion I had for it.

Plan C was, well, whatever would pay the bills. Ended up doing magazine layouts, then IT, and now I work as a cartographer. Strangely I'm the head of the GIS department and supervise a staff considerably more educated and experienced. Life takes some weird turns.

 

[rvai]

I´m a med student, Ive never really thought of playing as a possible way of making a living, my main goal right now is becoming a great neurosurgeon, so I can make lots of money and buy like 45 guitars per month lol.

Here in Mexico a private medicine school costs over $7,000 usd for a single semester, and the price increases every semester, in my case I´m in a public school, there were 25,000 people who applied and only 180 of us made it in, I paid like $20usd for the whole semester..

 

[AngelVivaldi]

I´m a med student, Ive never really thought of playing as a possible way of making a living, my main goal right now is becoming a great neurosurgeon, so I can make lots of money and buy like 45 guitars per month lol.

Here in Mexico a private medicine school costs over $7,000 usd for a single semester, and the price increases every semester, in my case I´m in a public school, there were 25,000 people who applied and only 180 of us made it in, I paid like $20usd for the whole semester..

Good for you man! That's whats up

 

[BrainArt]

Not to sound patriotic or anything, but this is what I like about Sweden... all schools, even universities, are completely free, you even get money from the state every month so you don't need to work during semesters. I'm taking a music production class next year that won't cost me a cent, save for some course litterature of course, although not much as most of it is based around the Pro Tools manual.

Ok, that's it! I'm moving to Sweden!

 

[signalgrey]

i would be a teacher....oh wait...i am a teacher
hahahah. my kids love my tattoos too.

 

[JohnIce]

So..... when can I move in?

As soon as we've decorated your wagon for the welcoming parade, and made you some complementary hot chocolate

Btw, we also supply each new resident with one of these: