The Role Of The Session Musician

A session musician is essentially a musician who provides instrumental backing to the main artist or group. They need to be able to listen well and make harmonies on the spot. It goes without saying that you have to be a talented musician, and you often have to play a tune to death.

Session musicians can work with some great and famous artists/groups, and they may find themselves getting regular work from established stars, earning good money and travelling round the world in the process.

However, for many session musicians the work is often very erratic. Your pay will often be diluted if you are working with a number of session musicians. It is a very hard area to get into, and you may need to develop affiliations with a number of  artists/groups before they request for your services. Many session musicians are often failed, fading or has-been artists, and therefore take session work purely to make a living from their art. The role of the session musician may attach a certain sense of self-unfulfilment - most session musicians truly aspire to be a rock guitarist for a stadium-filling group, or being a multi-million selling vocalist. A session musician is thus a lesser career by comparison.

One of the biggest benefits of being a session musician is the learning and experience you acquire from other, often bigger and more successful artists/groups. You may find yourself working on a variety of different artists working of differing styles, so you learn to adapt well to meet different artists' needs. When you gain the experience of working with other artists you may then develop the confidence and contacts to start your own successful band or solo career.

So providing you are an accomplished musician, session work may be an ideal career or job for you. The important thing is that you can work with different artists and ensure you don't get exploited too much.