For years, millions of musicians have aspired to have a career performing professionally as Sidemen. They’ve dreamed of going on the road, recording hit records, and playing sold-out shows.  It seems like only a precious few get to live the dream, while the vast majority fail to solve the mystery of simply getting started in the music industry.

    From Zero To Sideman is a no-nonsense book that keeps it real and takes the mystery out of making it happen. Everything from deciding to go pro, buying gear, getting educated, making a demo, to self-promotion is covered here in easy to understand language.

If you’ve ever asked yourself questions like:

1. I’d like to tour. Where do I start?  
   

2. Why do I need a demo?
   

3. Who should I give my demo to
   

4. What should I put on my demo?
   

5. Should my demo be a video or a CD?
   

6. How can I get more work?
   

7. How do musicians make money?
   

8. Should I buy a custom instrument?
   

9. Why did ‘That Guy’ get the gig?
   

    From Zero to Sideman is the only book that offers proven, modern solutions that you can immediately apply and concrete answers to these and a host of other common questions. All of this information is backed up with real world experience. For the price of a one hour private lesson, it’s your definitive how to guide for starting and maintaining a viable career as a working musician.

About the Author

    The author of the book is Grammy Award winning bassist and Self-Promotion Pioneer Mel Brown. He’s been featured in Bass Player, Bassics, Global Bass, and Gibson’s Amplifier magazines. A versatile player, Mel has performed with virtuosos like Michel Camilo, Joey DeFrancesco, and Brian Bromberg - and superstars like Marc Anthony, Brian McKnight, and Eddie Murphy. Mel was the first musician in the world to use an Enhanced Multimedia CD as a business card. In 1997, he successfully introduced himself to the Los Angeles music scene and landed a major touring gig with Gladys Knight in less than a month. Mel has recorded on dozens of top-ten Smooth-Jazz projects (including five #1 singles and three #1 album projects) and continues to record Smooth-Jazz hits from his home studio in Arizona with artists like Dave Koz, Wayman Tisdale, George Benson, Marion Meadows, Eric Darius, Darren Rahn and others.

The Missing Link for Music Educators & Teachers

    We all know that the quality of a teacher or school is measured by the success of the students. If you are a high school music teacher or college music professor, give your existing curriculum an extra edge by covering the material presented in Sideman. Or if you prefer, Mel is available for workshops at your school. If you’d like to offer your students a reality based overview of working as a musician, a solid game plan for starting and maintaining a career as a musician, and most of all a greater chance of succeeding, Mel’s book and two hour multimedia workshop are second to none.     

    Thanks for coming by. Here, you can meet Mel, learn what the book has to offer, and purchase the book. We’ll be adding a forum, and a FAQ section so check back often. This site is a work in progress so please be patient as it comes together.

Enjoy!

The book and this site are published exclusively by Career Equity LLC. Any questions can be directed to zero2sideman@mac.com.

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