Session guitarist & musicians

[russellnollen]

Has anyone here hired a session musician? If so, what instrument? Was it done live or remotely?
Is anyone here a session musician that does freelance work? If so, what instrument? Do you work independently/freelance? Live and/or remotely?
I'd like to know more.
Thank you for sharing your experiences!

[andygabrys]

yes I have hired and have also been hired by others to provide various session services.

This has happened both in live studio sessions in Santa Fe where I live and remotely where others record against a bed track that I send them and they lsend back discrete audio files (or vice versa where I have been contracted to record and send back the files).

In the instances when I have been contracted it is to provide one or more of the following: electric or acoustic guitar, electric or acoustic bass, drum programming, mixing, mastering, all-in-one production.

There are a great number of people on the forum here that provide great instrumental and vocal performances - its down to who provides the right style for what you need. And if you are looking to get employed, sometimes a good way is to do some collaborations with other taxi members.

HTH.

[russellnollen]

Thanks Andy! Once again, you're a wealth of wisdom and I sure do appreciate that!
Now, do you recommend assembling a "demo" set of samples of one's work to show off to prospective employers/collaborators?

[andygabrys]

Thanks Andy! Once again, you're a wealth of wisdom and I sure do appreciate that!
Now, do you recommend assembling a "demo" set of samples of one's work to show off to prospective employers/collaborators?

hey Russell,

absolutely - a demo set of samples would help, but it depends on what your end goal is.

if you want to showcase your guitar playing for example, some solo tracks taken out of some mixes might help to showcase that. if you are a bluegrass player, some solo acoustic tracks of you playing a bluegrass standard would help. Depends what your strengths are, and what you see yourself doing.

once you have a lot of productions out there with your playing on them, then a selection of those songs that have great parts would be a start.

as far as getting work from other forum members - well remember that most people here are in the same boat. They also play guitar. So most people don't necessarily contract others to play guitar unless its a style that they cannot handle.

but out there in the world? absolutely.

good luck!