[quote name='Faithless' timestamp='1345753472' post='1781351']
but the thing that goes BEFORE everything else, and I mean EVERYTHING, is being able to [b]play[/b].
You Have to be able to improvise, you have to have your chops high up in there, so that you pull out ANY stuff, that might come in; know (and be able to play) different styles, etc... but first of all, it's all about playing - it doesn't matter how hard you network, and how many cats you might get to know, but if your playing is not happening, then you won't get there.
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True, but you also need to know when to not spread the chops on thick. I have no chops (blazing solos, triplet slapping/tapping etc) to speak of (even less than I ever had) but in my experience of session work, what MDs want is a solid bass line to build everything else on. I have depped work out in the past and gone in for the next session with the same guys and been welcomed back because I did not have an opinion about everything that was happening and did not want to share my ideas all the time. Rest assured, I have an opinion about everything that happens in a session and could save a lot of time by pointing out why something is not working etc etc, but that is not what I am being paid for. That is the MD's gig and I want him/her to hire me for the next session cos I made the project sound good with my playing not never phone me again cos I made him look like an incompotent eejit. Some of them are, but they are still the ones who do the phoning. In 25 years of doing studio work I have never been called upon to spend time up where the guitarist's register is. That is what MDs use guitarists for. Of course there are exceptions to every rule.
Reading? I have yet to meet an actor who is cast for a part and just says "I don't need the script, I will just pick it up from the DVD". Obv there are monster players who do not read but never stop working. Pino is the obvious one. But in the bread and butter world of studio work why would anyone pay for half an hour studio time + half an hour of 8 other player's time to teach anyone a song when they could plonk a part in front of someone else and just say "wait for the red light and then play after 1 bar of click'?
Opinioinated? Moi?