Posts Tagged ‘Chad Jeffers’
4_28 Video Blog: Debut
Wednesday, April 28th, 2010
Another Great Review of 25 Notes
Friday, December 11th, 2009Chad Jeffers Digs Into the Details of a Dream Job
To any contemporary country fan, Chad Jeffers has one of the coolest gigs anywhere — going out on tour playing beside the likes of Keith Urban (see photo at left) and Carrie Underwood. In his new book, 25 Notes for the Successful Musician, he writes that he’s constantly asked how he landed such a killer job. The answer? In short, he’s been networking like crazy, practicing all the time and accepting nearly every Nashville gig when he’s available. The former member of Pinmonkey also tackles topics like moving to a city with a professional music scene, studying other realms of music like jazz and simply being nice to the sound guy at fairs and festivals. I’m not a musician, but I wholeheartedly agree with one of his main themes — identifying what “success” means to you, whether it’s writing a No. 1 country smash or just making a living as a musician. If you’re already in the biz or curious about what it takes to get inside this crazy world, don’t pass on Notes.
Published December 10th, 2009 at 2:51 pm | By: Craig Shelburne on CMT.com
Music Row Reviews Jeffers Book
Tuesday, December 8th, 2009About MusicRow is Nashville’s Music Industry Publication.
As the go-to source for music business news, industry experts rely on information from our top-notch staff of reporters and critics. Whether it be record reviews, the latest stories, timely interviews or discovering rising talent first, MusicRow is known for its candid voice and accuracy.
What they have to say about Chad Jeffers’ new book, 25 Notes for the Successful Musician:
Book Review: 25 Notes for the Successful Musician
Chad Jeffers is a successful in-demand road musician; he currently tours as Carrie Underwood’s steel guitar player and previously toured with Keith Urban, playing a variety of instruments. He was also a member of the group Pinmonkey, which had several singles released by RCA.
Jeffers’ new book, 25 Notes for the Successful Musician: The Ultimate Guide to Making It in the Music Industry is aimed at aspiring musicians. First, he wants to bring a dose of reality to those who believe playing music for a living is all glitz and glamour, by stressing the importance of professionalism.
What sets Jeffers’ book apart is that he stresses the networking aspects of being a musician. A musician certainly has to be able to perform at a professional level in the industry but, after that, it’s personality and networking that determines who gets the gigs. He also stresses that practice and preparedness are essential—something many young musicians overlook. It’s more than just getting your guitar tuned, it’s getting yourself in tune with who’s going to hire you and the audience you’re playing for.
In his “notes” on “Work Hard and Be Nice” and “It’s All About Sales. Are You a Salesman?” Jeffers confronts the issue of whether its “music” or “business” (he’s also got a chapter by that title). The answer, of course, is that it is a mixture of both and those who ignore one side in favor of the other are doomed to come up short when they chase their dreams.
Finally, Jeffers ends his book with some practical advice with “Save (and Invest) Your Money” and “Taxes.” He is right on about these important topics. Too many musicians proclaim that they love the music and hate the business, but those who want a long-term career that ends with some dignity need to keep an eye on the business side, whether they “love” it or not.
Copies of 25 Notes are available for $19.99.
25 Notes for the Successful Musician
Monday, December 7th, 2009
Musician Chad Jeffers Publishes ‘How To’ Book On MAKING IT In the Music Industry
Nashville, TN December 2, 2009 – Groovenslide Publishing has just released 25 Notes for the Successful Musician, written by Chad Jeffers. The book is the perfect primer on how to become a successful professional musician, written by a musician who has honed his craft with some of music’s biggest acts. Designed as a step by step instruction book on the do’s and don’t’s of the music business, as well as a bit of an inspirational journey for those ready to take the next step, Jeffers draws upon his considerable experience to make the book both entertaining and instructional.
Jeffers knows of what he writes. Through the years, he has performed with such superstars as Keith Urban, Carrie Underwood and Kenny Loggins. As a member of fan and critic favorites, Pinmonkey, Jeffers had his own record deal with RCA. So when he offers up a chapter titled “Being Signed as an Artist and Being Dropped As An Artist,” he draws from personal experience. The beauty of the book though is that even with chapters that could turn into a negative session on the music business, Jeffers instead singles out the positive aspects and what to take away from the experience to make the next round even better.
“I’ve been lucky enough to perform with some of the industry’s biggest stars and travel the world,” Jeffers said. “No matter where I am, I always get asked the same questions—‘how did you get this gig?’ or ‘what did you do to get where you are today?’ Meeting so many people who truly have a passion for music and honestly want to know how to do this inspired me to put my experience into a book.”
The result is a book that is an informative guide for the aspiring musician or artist. Though some of the chapter titles may appear to be givens, not everyone acknowledges their importance. Jeffers offers another example, the section titled “Work Hard and Be Nice.”
“That is certainly an obvious statement but you’d be surprised at how many people think they can blow off giving a good performance because they partied all night the night before. And the statement that no one wants to help a jerk is true in any business,” Jeffers said.
25 Notes For The Successful Musician can be ordered through http://www.25notes.com/ For more information on Jeffers and the book, please visit www.chadjeffers.com.
CONTACT: Jennifer Bohler/Alliance
615 292 5804
Starting a New Chapter
Friday, August 28th, 2009After working in corporate America for the last 11 years, I have made the decision to be my own boss and chase my dreams. This past week, I’ve resigned my post from Team Detroit to focus on my music and turning Dream Town Media into a successful music publishing and digital marketing company.
I have really enjoyed working on Ford Motor Company’s digital ad campaigns and love Mustang. My clients and team members have grown into amazing friends along the way. I am grateful for the experiences and support I have had along the way. By not focusing on my dreams, I’ve been doing a disservice to myself. In my heart, I know this next chapter is going to be amazing.
Over the last few months, I’ve been focusing more on my music career and have made significant strides. I’ve been able to record a bit for the Melissa Behring Project. 7 Million Jigawatts is closing in on releasing our first EP. We have more performances booked than ever before.
I have a few amazing clients that I am teaming up with to start. I am producing “ebooks”/audio books, web sites and digital marketing campaigns for a few wonderful folks.
Chad Jeffers: 25 Notes for the Successful Musician
JT Caldwell: The Chaplain’s Assistant
The Blue Dogma Poet
I’ll start profiling the authors and events over the next few weeks as their concepts become a digital reality.
Plugging In
Wednesday, July 8th, 2009I just returned from unplugging for 3+ days while on tour with the boys
Houghton Lake, MI
Now, I’m back to the real world. We are on the second and third chapters of Roger Keeney (the blind guy) driving the 2010 Mustang. The will be live on the2010mustang.com later this week.
We had a friend make a great little slide show of some recent 7MJ pictures with our new track, The Way Down. Which I quickly posted to 7MillionJigawatts.com .
I also came home to three new assignments from school. Tracking and associating revenues with a specific song across various channels. Not to mention getting ramped up with the next 6 segments of Chad Jeffers eBook… And the outstanding review of the Big Loud Shirt web site.
Can someone call me tomorrow and remind me to call my friends at ASCAP?
Seriously, I am loving my life.
Good advice coming next, I promise.
Between the coffee and the show
Sunday, June 21st, 2009Without getting up or batting an eye, today it seems as though I worked straight through the coffee and directly into this evening’s Contours show. Chad Jeffers’ ebook deadlines are pressing down on us. All of the planning this past year, only gets you so far. We are now stepping up to the plate to finish it.
With the help of the Grammar Girl, over the course of about five hours and four cups of coffee, I made some major headway on the first draft. I think we are about half way through this first phase. I’ve suggested a few additional the topics he needs to expand on and cover before we can really tie it up. Next step is to share the first draft with our inner circle of advisors.