Ask the Experts | April 24, 2024
Q: When did you first know you wanted music to be your primary gig?
John Bohlinger
I played my first gig when I was 16 and I was hooked. To live another way would be crazy.
Elle Cordova
I worked at a university press right out of college and thought I would either stay in publishing or go back to school and get a PhD, maybe teach English literature eventually. On nights and weekends, I was making YouTube videos and playing gigs around town with my band. When that started to take off enough that I could eke out a living without my 9-to-5, I gave my two weeks' notice and never looked back. I believe I was 24 years old.
Sean Daniel
This had a lot to do with graduating college during an economic recession. I saw I could make as much money playing/teaching guitar as entry-level college graduates could command doing the 9-to-5. So that was an easy call.
Steve Howe
At age 10, when music started to excite me.
Jimmy Leslie
When I was in the sixth-grade and the local music store did a showcase of all the instruments. A guy played some Chuck Berry-style stuff on the electric guitar and that was it!
Brooke Ligertwood
Songwriting is my thing. I just began playing the songs I was writing because there was no one else to, and now it’s almost 30 years later and no one has told me to shut up yet.
Zach Meyers
I started playing at 13 and got signed at 14. Certainly from that point on I knew I wanted to do this. But you never really know if that is going to happen, ya know? The fact that we’re in the ever-so-small percentage of people who get to do this for a living is a blessing I ask myself to not take for granted daily.
Steve Miller
Four years old when I saw Les Paul play.
Paul Riario
It was always there – even if it was latent. As a kid, I had the talent to draw but when I got the music bug, there was no looking back. Playing music became very easy for me. Thankfully, even when I had doubts, I was often validated by extremely talented musical peers whom I looked up to, and who encouraged me along the way.
SamuraiGuitarist
Before I started playing guitar I saw Blink-182 playing at the MTV Video Music Awards in 1999 and I knew from that moment I was going to be a musician.
Mary Spender
From the age of 6. I’ve always loved music, I was always so drawn to it, and from a young age I was playing violin, piano, and singing. I didn’t play my first gig until I was 12 – it was a lunchtime performance at my school. I was home by 3:45 p.m., walked straight into my parents’ kitchen and said, “Well, that’s all I want to do.” Obviously, my career has evolved somewhat from what I originally imagined. Making over 500 YouTube videos has been a key part of my success. I love being this new type of 21st century musician – whether I’m live or on-screen, it’s all performing, one way or another.