If you've been to music school, or you're thinking of going, you should realize that when you're done they'll be a number of things that you're still unprepared for. 

In this video, I'll be breaking down 5 things that you won't learn in music school...

Watch the Video:



The first thing that you won't learn is "How to get over your analytical musical mind." As musicians, we tend to be highly detailed people, which will often lead us to drastically over-analyze a lot of what we do, what we play, how our projects are going to go, etc.


I've noticed, (in my experience), that this can damage a lot of musicians in their career. Rather than take action, they instead, over-analyze their plans, (and their music) to death. And, years will end up going by without them getting done half of what they could've hoped they might have accomplished.

When you catch yourself over-analyzing, you'll have to be clear on the reasons. All too often, it has to do with perfection. So, get over that and get over it fast. You're human, you'll never be perfect. Just do your best in every situation and get your projects finished. Get them completed and get the project out into the public. Most things you'll create in the digital world can be corrected or edited later on. Just get your work out.


Allowing yourself to get hung up on the use of complex "text-book" musical terms can be one of the horrible left-overs after completing music school. Trust me when I say that both non-educated and long-term established musicians do not want to hear anyone sprout off complex musical terms.


Learn to speak in very basic terms. Everyone you work with will appreciate it more. Keep in mind that most established musicians have been away from music school for 10, 20 or 30 years. Most of them do not process the concepts of music using text-book terms.

And, non-musicians will feel like you're being arrogant if you call out every movement in a song as if you were reading from a music encyclopedia. So, in the working world of the musician, tone it down with the terms. Everyone will appreciate it in the long term.


When you're done music school, you'll need to start making money (and fast). Why finish a 30, 40 or $50K music diploma only to get a job working as a bus boy or as a waiter /waitress?

Here's the underlying problem, 99% of the music schools out there won't teach any of this. Once you graduate, you're pretty much on your own. But, if there's one thing you need to do, it is to have a plan for income, even before you start school.

Whether that's teaching, or creating an online music business. You'll need something solid. And, please don't say a YouTube channel. I've had a YouTube channel for nearly 10 years and I can tell you that it is not a stable income. It goes up and down and it is entirely at the discretion of the way YouTube happens to be running its algorithms (and that changes all the time).

Start a real music business, that you control 100% and that always makes you money. And, make sure that you have multiple streams of income, so that if one slows down, you're never relying on that one single income source. You have several others to draw income from.


Professional relationships are one of the biggest factors of working in the music business. You'll have; band members, band leaders, agents, club owners, clients, associates, managers, web developers, the list can go on, and on, and on... And, like the famous saying goes, the "Quality of your Life is the Quality of your communication."


This is the one area, above all others, that you've got to get right with. The main thing is to avoid any phony acts or fake personalities when dealing with people. Be real, be yourself and have integrity. Which really just means being whole and true to yourself.

If every interaction you have with others is with a phony - put on - fake personality, people are going to get sick of that. It might not happen right away, but over time people are going to feel like they've had enough. So, be honest and really work at being yourself. People will appreciate that tremendously.


The last point I want to cover is "Finding your Path," in this crazy business. I get emails all the time from musicians from all over the place and the one common trait from all of the musicians looking for success advice is that they need to find their path of success.

There will be things that set you apart and you'll need to exploit them. In case you didn't know, being a musician is part of the entertainment business, and if you have a problem with entertainment, you're in the wrong business.

Get out there, meet people, be entertaining and discover all types of music. Decide what the best styles are for you. Is it Blues, Jazz, Folk, Rock, Country, Soul, Funk, experience a lot of styles and find your path. One or more of these styles are going to be very natural and easy to play. All you need to do is discover the ones that work best for you.

Once you do this, you'll be able to relax in your style and have success in it.

Okay, so there ya go... 5 Things You Won't Learn in Music School. Take them to heart... if you can implement them, you'll be well on your way to more success...

In the meantime... head over to my website at creativeguitarstudio.com and get your FREE lifetime membership... And, when you want more, you can always upgrade to either a Basic, or a Premium package! ...Thanks for being here, I'll see you again on the next post.