Being a session musician

[adamj]

So, at the mo i have a lot of time on my hands. Being a guitarist for the past 10 years or so, and dabbling in a bit of bass and vocals along the way I thought i might give it a shot advertising myself around the local towns for work as a session player.

Anyone have any links to websites i might find useful? Iv done a few searches and just find descriptive sites rather than forums etc.

I know guitarists are all over the place so work would be few and far between but at least it would be fun to try. Obviously if you have any other hints and tips it would be greatly appreciated, especially if some of you guys are experienced in this personally.

[Stevepage]

I have a session drummer friend who gave me advise on this before and she always said that to do it, you really need to network. Go to gigs and get to know people, get to know local music shop managers, the local tutors and just plug yourself constantly. She's done this and she gets regular work in London and sometimes in the US, though recently it's been quiet for her which could be a sign that things are hard in the session world right now.

[Sifu Ben]

I've a friend who does it, and he just sent a demo an CV to various studios.

[adamj]

iv previously tried contacting studios by email but never get a reply. Probably time to work on an actual Demo CD rather than using old band stuff i guess. cheers for thr replys, keep em coming!

[38thBeatle]

I'd agree with what has been said- putting yourself about and doing some freebies is a good idea and a demo/website will provide a reference of what you can do. The thing is with session work is that it can be about who you know as much as anything else. Once you start getting work the hope is that it will lead to other jobs. Hopefully the jobs will start.Another thing is to offer your services to aspiring song writers. 

[HTH AMPS]

on top of whats already been said, also join the Musicians Union - they publish a directory of members with contact info each year (or they used to anyway).