Music is not a profession.

We all have to make money. We all have our passion. They should never be forced to mix. I see people complain about how it’s hard to make money playing music. Gigs don’t pay well and it’s hard to make it big. It’s the same with any profession, except that music is not a profession.

Music is a thing you do for the sake of self expression, skill development, entertainment and many other reasons. I love to play music because I love the sound, the emotion within it. I love crafting solos, melodies, riffs, chord progressions. I love mastering a difficult song. I love writing something that fits so well in someone else’s song. I love when I play something that compliments a vocal line perfectly. It’s like having the best conversation of your life.

And yet, there’s still a crowd of people trying to force their passion to pay the bills. They seem to treat playing music as if it’s some factory job, just pumping songs out and getting a paycheck, then complaining because it’s hard. I think a lot of people have the wrong idea about what music is.

If you want to play music for a living, that’s a different thing. You’re in the business of entertainment. Work on being the best entertainer you can, but that’s completely different from your own personal musical journey. Keep those areas of your life separate.

If you play music for the love of it, please play it from the heart and for the heart. That’s number one. Don’t let anything get in the way of that connection, otherwise you will lose the meaning and purpose of this beautiful art form.