Story of a Session Guitarist, with Andrew Synowiec is a fantastic podcast episode of one of my favorite podcasts, with lessons that apply beyond just music.
…my first question for you is…what are some important traits for people with this kind of job?
Well, at the risk of, you know, saying things that you hear probably a thousand other places, people skills is kind of a number one…being easy to get along with
…my job is a little bit different in that on any given day you’re wearing a different hat, maybe 10 different hats on the same day…it’s the kind of thing where you need to be able to show up and put your heart and soul into this solo and have somebody go, “I hated that. That was terrible. Why would you play that? That’s not what we wanted,” and you kind of have to go, “Cool. I tried to zig and now I need to zag.” It’s a weird balance because you have to care enough to do a good job and put that heart and soul into it, but you have to be able to go, “It’s not my name on the record.”
So I have to serve what they’re asking for…It really does free you up. And one of the things that I’ve found, and again, this is something I’ve heard other people say, but it’s like if somebody suggests an idea that you think is terrible and not going to work, it’s so much better and quicker and smoother to just go, “Yeah, let’s try it.” And half the time it works and sounds great. And if it doesn’t work, they’ll hear, hopefully, that it didn’t work…and that is a smoother way of approaching the thing rather than like, “No, man, that’s not going to work.”