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A LL I N A D AY ’ S WO R K 6 GU ITA R HE ROS WITH DAY GIGS L IKE US W O R DS BY JA MI E W O L F ER T Making a living in music has never been easy. In fact, being a musician is probably one of the worst ways to make a living ever. The percentage of musicians that have been able to achieve even middle- class status just from music-related endeavors like songwriting, touring, making records, and hawking band merch is infinitesimal. This is especially true today, when music can be copied and distributed to the online world in the blink of an eye, and the majority of casual music listeners fully expect to hear whatever record they desire instantly, and for free, via YouTube or a music streaming service. Combine this with the fickle nature of commercial success in the music industry, and the tremendous amount of time and work necessary to learn to be a musician in the first place, and you have a perfect recipe for a lifetime of financial struggle. It should be no surprise then that so many professional musicians have regular day jobs unrelated to playing music. Just about every indie rocker has a side gig of some sort, even those that are members of very high profile bands with lengthy artistic careers. They work in fields that range from bartending and 24 TONE TALK // construction, to corporate accounting and law. Even musicians with genuine pop star credentials often have other careers outside the music world, sometimes out of necessity, sometimes just as a way to keep busy and pursue other interests when they’re not in the studio or on tour. Often, they began these careers before they were famous, or conversely, after their music careers began to slow down, while a few have consistently pursued alternate paths of employment outside of the music industry. As a musician with a couple of day jobs myself, I have always taken great inspiration from the fact that so many of my guitar heroes were also working people who somehow managed to have brilliant artistic lives in between punching the clock, getting the kids to school, and putting food on the table. Several have even considered having a non-music day job essential to their sense of artistic freedom, the idea being that if you can pay the bills whether you sell records or not, then you’re free to make the art you want to make without compromise, and on your own timetable. With this in mind, let’s take a look at a few guitar heroes that also have real jobs. All in a Day’s Work: 6 Guitar Heros With Day Gigs Like Us