You have to love what you’re doing. Playing blues, r&b, and rock n’ roll isn’t a recipe for getting rich quick. Although I know that many musicians have struggled, I can only tell you what it’s been like for myself. You have to be stubborn and stick to it and look for that break that will make all the difference. That’s what happened to me, and here I am all those years later.
You have to pick your spots, know when to blow and when to lay back. If you’re playing next to someone who is a lead singer and lead guitarist, and you play all over the place, you won’t last long in the band. There’s a fine line when you’re playing with a guitar player/singer, so the sax can’t be lead all the time. Just do a solo every couple of songs and figure out how to blend in. If you’re a sax player and you’re jamming on stage with another sax player and it’s time for a solo, let him take it. This sounds like a little thing, but it’s amazing how many Bogart’s are out there. Nothing worse than a solo hog! If you give the audience a nice little cherry now and then, they’ll keep picking those cherries all night long! There are players out there whose playing is fine, but their social graces are poor, such as playing over the singer or a guitar solo. I can’t believe that they actually do that; that’s the opposite of what you should do, stepping on someone’s toes. When you’re in a band, you’re not playing for yourself, you’re playing for someone else. If you never shut up, after a while no one will want to hear you.
I have studied theory, jazz, classical etc., but when it gets to blues/swing etc a lot of that stuff just goes out the window. It’s more about sitting with a piece you like and studying the crap out of it…copying the guy’s licks, subtleties in tone like growls, breath, etc. Basically I’m not the guy to talk about mixolydian scales. I just assume the student knows all this- if they don’t, then they obviously should.
