Exercise you want to know how to make money playing guitar? Are you passionate about information technology?

Well, let me tell you something…

You can brand coin from playing guitar, it sounds almost impossible sometimes but you can always cash your passions into real money if you really desire to and exercise the right things.

Now…

If you came hither looking for some "how to go rich quick" vibes, you are in the wrong identify. I will be talking about legit ways in which y'all can build a sustainable concern and earn an income equally a guitar role player, not how to brand a million dollars in 1 week.

At that place are many ways to employ your artistic abilities to earn money.

I will go over some of the ones that I've seen people utilise over the years and too some others that have worked for me equally well.

Let'due south now outset…

Table of Contents

  • i. Go yourself into freelancing
  • 2. Teach others how to play the guitar
  • 3. Showtime doing more live performances
    • Other things to exercise while live performing
  • four. Just record your own music and upload it to streaming platforms
  • 5. Use YouTube to upload videos and monetize them
    • What are some ways that you tin can brand money with YouTube?
      • one- Through Ads
      • two- Through affiliates
      • three- Sponsor videos
  • six. Use Instagram to build an audience and charge for sponsored posts
  • vii. Endeavor street performing or busking
  • eight. Create a guitar blog/website
  • 9. Sell tabs or sheet music online
  • 10. Brand relaxing music with either your guitar or other digital instruments
  • Frequently asked questions
    • Tin you sell guitar riffs?

ane. Become yourself into freelancing

Y'all tin can freelance your way into guitar playing to earn coin.

There are many session guitarists who are asked to play alive or for recordings when other bands or musicians require a guitar actor.

Local event managers could tell you about such gigs, and so ane thing yous would need to do is leave at that place and talk to whoever leads most of the events around your town.

Now…

I know this is not a movie, well-nigh of these outcome managers are not going to spend their time talking to every guitar player that approaches them.

A skillful thing you can do is…

Go to your local music store, and see if they accept a board in which musicians put ads on it.

You volition often find other bands that are already making money by playing gigs that need a guitar player.

Likewise that, now you take the opportunity to get online and advertise your skills. Some online platforms allow you lot to ready up profiles as session guitarists so people can find you when they require your skills.

Many people accept found success on Fiverr selling their own guitar songs or riffs, or even recording for others.

How could Fiverr even provide some income for a guitarist?

Skillful question.

Fiverr is an online marketplace for freelance services.

There is a department that is exactly dedicated to that, session musicians that tin provide services related to their craft; of course for a fee.

Fiverr gigs starting time at $v, but you can cost your work fifty-fifty more than that if you want.

You lot simply demand to create an business relationship and starting time selling your "gigs".

As more people hopefully buy your services, you volition start gaining more than popularity and you lot could even start networking with other musicians.

A lot of money could be made from using Fiverr, but equally always at that place will be a lot of competition.

Y'all would take to deal with it; just be smart, and be improve than them past offering more than value every time somebody orders from you and you lot will do meliorate than the average seller.

Let's have a closer look!

I went ahead and searched for "Session Musicians" and selected to just show "guitar" gigs.

These were some of the results I got:

Equally yous can run across, the platform will push button upward whoever has 5.0 stars reviews.

If you scroll down, everybody else with 4.nine and below, starts to announced.

Let's get to an actual Fiverr guitarist seller's page…

I chose someone that at the time was not even a Level One Seller.

Quick Notation: Fiverr ranks its sellers in different groups:

  • Seller
  • Level One Seller
  • Level 2 Seller
  • Top-Rated Seller

To read more well-nigh information technology, you can become here.

So, this person has 5 stars, with 46 reviews.

And accept in mind that not everybody writes reviews, so the total number of gigs that he has sold, might exist more.

His Bones parcel is $v, but and so he also has a Standard package that is priced at $15, and a Premium package that costs $25. (All this is at the time I'thousand writing this. )

If we do some calculations, and we are extremely pessimistic well-nigh his earnings, using his basic package ($5), and even forgetting about the fact that you can upsell your gigs:

That volition requite the states 46x$v, which would be equal to $230. But, there is also a grab, though.

How does Fiverr make money?

Well, they take a fee from every purchase that yous get.

So that aforementioned calculation that we just did would end upward giving y'all approximately $185.

You lot might say that's not enough to pay for rent, and that is the real truth. But it is money you lot didn't take before, and that'southward really the mindset I think you lot should take while doing this.

I really encourage you to watch this video for a more realistic point of view about making coin on Fiverr every bit a guitarist:

I Sold My Guitar Services on Fiverr

By no ways, we are being sponsored by Fiverr and desire to sell you this image that this is all very piece of cake to exercise.

It's very hard, and I cannot stress that enough.

In that video, you will become his very honest opinion on making money on Fiverr, and the very entertaining story of how he got $0 with a newly created account.

A few Fiverr alternatives or just other platforms to sell your work are:

  • Upwork.com
  • Freelancer.com
  • Peopleperhour.com

2. Teach others how to play the guitar

Now, this ane is one of the most stable ways to make money playing guitar. If you are a pro and know how to play guitar, yous tin can fix tutoring lessons.

You tin can annunciate or marketplace your skills through posters around your town or even just with your own contacts.

Even if you get a few students at the outset, information technology will all be for good in the long run as more people start to learn about your skills and word-of-mouth starts to get bigger,

If you are a patient person, it volition non exist difficult for you lot to explicate the basics of playing the guitar and teach students to follow sheet music at all.

In fact, information technology will exist an interesting mode to use your skills every bit you lot will find yourself also learning along the way.

On the other hand, if you feel like your abilities are not enough, this might assist you.

You just need to know more than the average person.

Some people will literally pay you lot to larn how to play chord progressions and pocket-size riffs.

Now…

Please don't advertise something that you won't exist able to provide. Always be honest most your skills and what you can teach.

In that location are many sites that will allow yous join as a instructor. For case, lessons.com

Lessons website for guitar players

You can bring together every bit a teacher, and create a professional contour, and if you become lucky enough, you could find a few potential students around your surface area that are already on in that location, that volition maybe even travel to you.

The amount of money that y'all will brand, volition highly depend on how much you accuse your students.

Let's think almost another scenario now…

You don't similar going to other people's houses or y'all don't have space to teach students in a studio or house.

What tin y'all do?

There are many approaches to this, but another option would be to create a guitar course and perchance sell it on Udemy.com or even your own website (which gives you lot more liberty to do whatever you want).

You can price it as loftier or low as you lot want. Some of these guitar courses on Udemy.com go for equally high as $199.99.

If y'all take a close wait, that first result of my search currently has 21,054 reviews.

Even with the website's fees, you lot would still exist earning a lot of money if you go to the level that these instructors are in.

But…

Information technology is not all that great and I must exist honest and give you a reality check.

Most Udemy instructors have been doing this for years, and even accept very popular YouTube channels that they use to drive traffic to their courses, as well as landing pages to collect emails, etc.

And so, this is not a "become rich fast" strategy, but information technology's surely a very stable one.

In the outset, it might be really hard to build this type of success without an audience, only that's the challenge I encourage you lot to take.

You lot might fail, or you lot might succeed, but at least yous tried.

Some Udemy alternatives are:

  • Skillshare.com
  • Udacity.com
  • Lynda.com

To go started, simply go to their respective homepages, and wait for a "Become an instructor" link.

3. Start doing more than live performances

This 1 might exist a little difficult for people without the right connections, but with fourth dimension, it tin can get a very convenient way of earning money since this is what generally every musician wants to do as a career.

How exercise you go about it?

Yous will take to start past playing at a local restaurant, club, or bar, if possible.

If you lot desire to ask for a show, you have to seem apparent.

That is why, if I was you I would record myself playing, so show the videos or audios to the manager, or whoever is in accuse of the place.

Your recordings will exist proof that you are worth a try.

At first, stick with minor payments since you want to build your prototype slowly. Don't promise to become paid a couple of thousands of dollars on your first gigs.

That'southward not how it usually goes.

Telling you to expect to get paid at first is me being extremely positive about it. You might find yourself playing for free for a while.

Every bit a fashion of fact, I recollect you should go up to the manager of your favorite restaurant or venue, and offer to play for free for a few shows, and so say that if they like it, you would want them to start paying you lot for your work, and to make y'all a contract.

Now…

Equally you grow your skills and experience with live performing, you tin can also aim to play at bigger restaurants or venues.

Experienced and pop artists are always paid better.

Simply exist patient in the offset and piece of work your way upward.

Pro Tip:Having a potent social media presence is actually important.

Permit'due south be rational for a second…

Y'all are the director of a eating house and some guitar player tells you that they want to play at your venue. What'south the offset thing you do?

Your respond to that question, amidst many others, should have been to just look them up on Instagram, YouTube, etc.

Then, showing your gear on Instagram, and posting some covers on YouTube would start to brand sense at this bespeak.

Other things to do while live performing

If allowed past the venue or eating place:

Try selling your own merch; meaning accessories like hats, or picks that are related to you or your band (unremarkably with your logo or name on it).

But…

Again, reality bank check!

If you lot are a small artist and you want to sell some merchandise, information technology would brand the most sense to sell generic guitar-related or music designs, rather than putting your own name on information technology at start.

Note: Take that as a marketing opinion, and non a fact, since every example is dissimilar with each artist and their fanbase.

Aside from this, and maybe even more than importantly, you can sell CDs with your own music once you start to play at bigger venues.

Inevitably, in my opinion, people will cease using these, and they will become more than of a throwback affair, just y'all might even so find this to be a good do if yous are lucky plenty and your audience likes it.

By treatment CDs with your songs, yous are actually making coin and promoting yourself at the same time, which is something not everybody tin can do.

4. Just record your ain music and upload it to streaming platforms

This one goes almost adjacent with the one before.

Allow's confront it, you love music and you desire to be that artist that gets paid for doing what it loves. If this is the case, and so y'all should start recording your own music.

We talked about how you should record yourself to evidence people around then y'all tin can hopefully get some shows.

Well…

Make that opportunity the perfect one to come upwardly with music so good, that it is worth releasing it.

Information technology is important to have faith in your skills to produce and record yourself, but you tin always volume a studio and start to record your own tracks professionally.

Pro tip: You can earn money through shops that stock your works and online platforms that characteristic your music. Upload your music to streaming platforms and make money through those every bit well.

The former days of record labels existence the ones owning every opportunity for every artist out there are over.

Nowadays, you can upload your songs to Spotify, Apple Music, and pretty much everywhere, from your own estimator.

There are many platforms to practice then, for instance, DistroKid is my personal favorite since you get to ain 100% of your royalties, but you likewise have TuneCore or CDBaby.

make money with guitar through streaming platforms

Annotation: If you annals your music with a Content Identification Arrangement (DistroKid has this option),  you tin likewise become paid every fourth dimension somebody uses your music on YouTube, for example.

You tin as well sell your music straight to fans who genuinely honey your music.

If by releasing songs and playing live shows, you lot are able to build a fan base of operations, and so yous are pretty much on the right path to even more success.

5. Use YouTube to upload videos and monetize them

YouTube has many opportunities for anyone.

Anything from didactics the earth how to play guitar, showing off your instruments and cognition, uploading covers, to even talking about how to make coin playing guitar.

We take seen how many guitar players from all over the earth have made information technology to the top past simply doing this, uploading YouTube videos.

What are some ways that you tin make money with YouTube?

You will go paid depending on how many views you get.

There are many ways in which you tin can monetize your channel, the most common ones are:

1- Through Ads

As I mentioned, you will go paid depending on how many views y'all become. You volition usually become paid per thousand views, and the number may vary from channel to channel.

This one is i of the nigh effective ones. The correlation between the people that watch your content, and how much you get paid, volition tell you what yous are doing well and what you are not.

Meaning, that if you run into that a certain blazon of video is getting more views, you would plainly upload more than content on that same topic or style.

Also…

Merely and then you know, you cannot just create an account and upload a video or song to YouTube and start getting paid right away. There are requirements that you need to take care of before you even get accepted to their monetization system.

Source: YouTube Studio Monetization Tab

In order to use other monetization strategies like Channel Memberships, Merchandise Shelf, Super Chat & Super Stickers, and also YouTube Premium revenue, you should comply with other requirements equally well:

Source: YouTube's Help Eye

As you can see from the kickoff film above, this is what YouTube has to say nigh this topic:

To go into the YouTube Partner Program, your channel needs 4,000 public watch hours in the concluding 12 months, and 1,000 subscribers. Your channel will too go reviewed to brand certain it follows YouTube monetization policies.

Some other example of the fact that some of the ways to brand the most money come with harder efforts.

2- Through affiliates

Getting paid through affiliates is generally very handy for small channels since you don't demand too many views to kickoff seeing some money flow in.

You tin can join any affiliate program, and so promote products on your videos. Later on, later you take put that product's link on your video clarification, if people click it and make a purchase, yous volition become a committee for information technology.

Note:With Amazon Associates, you get a commission for everything a certain person who clicked on your link bought, being not necessarily a guitar-related gear.

How to make money playing guitar Amazon associates picture

For instance, you tin promote guitars, pedals, or pretty much anything that has an affiliate plan.

Tip:Brand a video reviewing the gear you currently accept (guitar, pedals, amps), then identify an affiliate link on your clarification.

If whatsoever of these videos that promote a product go rank high on YouTube or even Google, the amount of money could be very high. Depending on the demand and the search volume of whatsoever keyword you lot are going for, yous will beginning receiving more and more visits every 24-hour interval.

Over again, this is not easy to do, simply highly rewarding in the hereafter.

Making money through sponsor videos is the virtually difficult one. This is because brands usually become for whoever has the most corporeality of subscribers.

This is not something that is generally the instance, though.

Sometimes yous see pretty small channels also getting paid past sponsors as well, merely at that point, in my opinion, it is more of being lucky than anything else.

Now…

You can try talking to brands and offering them value, instead of just waiting for them to find y'all.

You can contact them and say something like:

Hey, love your stuff. I see that you are promoting (insert their production). My YouTube channel is currently receiving (insert your true statistics). I was thinking nosotros tin can manage to make a deal in which I characteristic your product on my channel, let me know what y'all recollect.

This won't e'er get you a deal, simply it puts you out there.

That example text, it'south not even close to what you should exist sending to these companies since it sounds very generic.

Always brand sure to make information technology as personal and humanly as possible and to add your own taste to it.

If you have a growing audience:

  • You will make more money from ads
  • You will get more clicks to your affiliate links
  • More than companies will contact you to promote their gear

On this YouTube video

Making Money As A Musician On YouTube

In the long run, YouTube can be a useful platform for y'all if you know how to use information technology well.

Non only to make coin simply to go exposure as an artist as well.

6. Use Instagram to build an audition and charge for sponsored posts

Not a lot of guitar players are using this resource to abound as artists and to make some income.

But if you pay close attention to information technology, information technology has all been happening for years now.

Accept you ever seen these big guitar pages with hundreds of thousands of followers giving shout-outs to small-scale creators?

Equally some of them normally do it for free, others, obviously ask for a fee.

A great example of a folio we beloved is @guitardaily on Instagram:

As you lot can see from their bio, it says "DM for enquiry on paid features".

Most of the fourth dimension when you lot meet an artist being posted, that ways the creative person paid to be on in that location,

So, as a guitar player, a great side hustle could exist to either create your own repost page or just grow your own personal account to so accuse others for exposure.

There are many ways you can cost this, but information technology all depends on yous.

And once more, this is past no ways easy!

That page alone has already posted 6,976 posts at the time I'yard writing this.

And have in heed that, at showtime, y'all volition have no followers and you would demand to grow it by reposting other people'southward contents: pregnant you will always want to ask for their consent before doing so.

Information technology can exist really fourth dimension-consuming, and non actually that worth it in comparison to other methods in this commodity.

seven. Try street performing or busking

This one is peradventure one of the oldest methods to brand coin while playing the guitar.

Street performance or busking is according to Wikipedia:

The act of performing in public places for gratuities. In many countries, the rewards are mostly in the class of money but other gratuities such every bit nutrient, drinkable, or gifts may be given.

So, essentially what yous would desire to exercise is go to a actually populated place, and set up a modest surround in which you would take your guitar equipment (amps, guitar, pedalboard, etc) and then some sort of box (sometimes your own guitar instance) so that people can give y'all money.

In my opinion, this way is one of the fastest ways to brand money playing guitar.

Although one disadvantage is that your income will nearly likely be inconsistent.

Only if you lot feel similar you will exist comfy playing in front end of people in the streets, so you should definitely endeavor information technology out.

I really encourage you to watch this video to take a expect at a real-life guitarist who is making money while busking:

Busking: Bones TIPS for a NEW busker!

He talks nigh how much he fabricated on that mean solar day that he was recording and shares some tips for people who are thinking about starting to do it every bit well.

8. Create a guitar blog/website

Having a guitar blog or website could essentially work almost the aforementioned manner as a YouTube channel.

Significant that you would upload content, and with time and effort, y'all would be able to put ads on it and monetize it.

In that same manner, you can as well put affiliate links on written product reviews, for case. When people click on those respective links and buy that said product, y'all would get a commission.

And once again, this one is past no ways easy, and it requires a lot of work to put it together, as well as some initial investment like buying hosting for your website, buying a domain, etc.

There are enough of ways to earn money through your passion.

The key is to invest time into your skills and to know how to properly utilize them.

9. Sell tabs or sheet music online

There are multiple online platforms that you can use to sell your original sheet music or tabs.

MusicNotes.com is one of those platforms. You lot tin can go and upload your sheet music and and so people that are interested in buying your work would just go there and practice the checkout procedure.

Just who are these people that will magically buy your piece of work?

Well, people won't appear all of a sudden to give you money, that's for certain.

Y'all demand some sort of traffic on a website or a YouTube channel!

But what you can practice, is use the other ways of making money that we talked almost before and combine them with this one.

If you upload guitar videos to YouTube, take a website, or just a big audience, and then yous're 50% alee of many other guitar players reading this right at present.

Checkout page on MusicNotes.com

If you take original piece of work that y'all created yourself and a adept amount of people are interested, then yous will about likely get some sales.

And before you get discouraged…

If you are similar me, and probably 90% of all guitarists and don't really employ or understand sheet music, then I have some skilful news for you lot.

This same platform has a session that is specifically for guitar tabs.

It would expect something similar this:

Now…

The problem with this site is that due to the demand of having proper licensing and data on each piece that they offer, you can not merely sign up and start selling your work right away.

But they are open up to working with yous if you are an artist with "an established base of musicians looking to perform your music."

Pregnant, that if you are somebody that already has a lot of people willing to buy or play your music, then you can simply reach out to them. They encourage those who qualify to contact them via e-mail at publish@musicnotes.com.

You tin can read more nigh information technology in this commodity posted on their back up page.

On the other side, this is not the end of the world for those that might not qualify, there are many other alternatives that many would even argue that are better.

For example, you tin can create your own website to sell your music with your own payment organization.

This style you will have full control over the pricing and there won't be whatever processing fee other than the one from the payment system itself.

10. Make relaxing music with either your guitar or other digital instruments

This method is a fleck similar to the i where we told you to upload videos on YouTube, but I feel like this deserves to exist a betoken of itself.

I'm pretty sure you lot've seen 1 of those relaxing videos on YouTube, those channels get A LOT of views.

This video for example was posted on Oct 1th, 2015 by Xanthous Brick Movie house:

3 Hour Relaxing Guitar Music: Meditation Music, Instrumental Music, Calming Music, Soft Music, ☯2432

At the fourth dimension that I'm writing this exact sentence, that video has 109,723,308 views.

Now, if we do a little chip of enquiry on this channel, according to Social Blade, a YouTube analytics website, it is estimated that this channel is making effectually $8.6k – $137.7k a month.

making money with relaxing music

At the aforementioned fourth dimension, their estimated yearly earnings are about $103.3k to $one.7M.

Even if those numbers are highly overestimated, it still gives u.s. a decent thought of what's possible with a aqueduct like that.

You don't take to play guitar for three or 10 hours straight, you could just create a track that'due south most 3-ten minutes long, and then you loop it for three-10 hours with any royalty-free image or video.

If yous have experience with any music-making software similar FL Studio, Logic, Ableton Live, etc. and then doing something like this is extremely easy and fast to do.

Often asked questions

Can you sell guitar riffs?

You lot can sell your original guitar riffs, merely this is not as simple equally that.

There are many things that need to be done earlier you even consider doing something like this.

If y'all want to practise information technology the correct fashion…

Beginning of all, you volition need to become into multiple legal steps to only prove that said riff is even yours.

Is not like you tin just go alee and sell the Sugariness Child O' Mine riff for instance, because you don't own the right to that song.

You would need to copyright your songs and and so sell the correct to employ them to other people, with your own terms and conditions.

But if you research this topic a little flake further, you will find out that there are many loopholes in U.South. copyright laws.

Those loopholes brand it a lot harder to copyright simply about any melody and riff.

That's why things such equally music samplingexist.

These laws are still being changed nowadays and don't really have a solid base just yet.

Imagine copyrighting a 12-bar blues riff?

That would hypothetically cause a big number of lawsuits amid almost any musician since those riffs have been used past many guitarists for equally long every bit we can even remember.

I encourage you to inquiry this topic more according to where you lot live, just so y'all get a better understanding of your personal state of affairs and how you can go alee and practise something like this.

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