Are you a pro or a hobbyist?

[TLR]

It's a hobby. When I was about 16 to17 my job was kind of an apprenticeship in all but name which meant I wasn't making much money. I played some restaurant and covers gigs for a while and that money was quite good. But eventually my day job started to pay well enough and I stopped gigging. Since then it's been a hobby, and a fun, interesting and even fulfilling one.

[ccroft]

I'm a Problyist. I was a pro and now I'm a hobbyist. It's really not as sad as it sounds.

[christianm77]

Yeah? Well I’m a ho.

[jads57]

Pro Musician for 45years, unfortunately,lol!

[TommyBrooklyn]

I would object to someone telling me playing jazz music is a hobby. It's not my day job and to-date i've earned a total of $12 from playing jazz (the restaurant owner felt bad for me and stuffed my tip jar at a solo gig.) So I'm certainly not a professional.
But it takes so much more dedication and commitment to execution than a mere hobby, a term that implies a low bar to entry to the endeavor and a more or less easily attainable skill set. There are exceptions, of course, and one could take any hobby to the Nth level in terms of money, time and effort spent.
But my goal isn't to entertain myself or provide a distraction from daily life. My goal is to "speak" to others the music that speaks to me in very spiritual and moving way. Personally, it's closer to a monk's meditation, study and search for transcendence.* Would you call that a hobby?

*Certainly in terms of pay!

[fep]

I would object to someone telling me playing jazz music is a hobby. It's not my day job and to-date i've earned a total of $12 from playing jazz (the restaurant owner felt bad for me and stuffed my tip jar at a solo gig.) So I'm certainly not a professional.
But it takes so much more dedication and commitment to execution than a mere hobby, a term that implies a low bar to entry to the endeavor and a more or less easily attainable skill set. There are exceptions, of course, and one could take any hobby to the Nth level in terms of money, time and effort spent.
But my goal isn't to entertain myself or provide a distraction from daily life. My goal is to "speak" to others the music that speaks to me in very spiritual and moving way. Personally, it's closer to a monk's meditation, study and search for transcendence.* Would you call that a hobby?

*Certainly in terms of pay!

If your two choices are job or hobby... Yes, I'd call that a hobby. When you do something not for money but for pleasure, that's a hobby, right?

Amature is probably a better word. The root of that word "for the love of". And remember when olympic athletes had to be amateurs, extremely skilled amateurs.

[rpjazzguitar]

Now that the pros aren't working much either, I guess I've attained pro status.

[Clint 55]

Music is a friggin difficult profession. Hats off to you guys who do it as your career. My goal is just to be able to play and record jazz guitar at a standard that I'm happy with.

[Nick71]

A jazz guitar connoisseur..

I think that "Professional" or "Hobbyist" - which are you? leaves some players out - it gives them no category - no pigeon hole.

My dictionary calls a "hobby" a sideline, a pastime, and a spare-time activity. And it seems we've defined "pro" as a player who earns a living by playing.

There's another kind of player, to which JonnyPac alluded. There's the passionate, eternal student and practitioner of the art. I'd say this category would include many, many of us. It's certainly more than a "hobby" - calling it this puts it on a level with stamp collecting, seems to me (nothing necessarily wrong with stamp collecting - be passionate about that, too!)

And we all know players of amazing talent, who never perform, for whatever reasons. Playing guitar, for me, is much more than a pastime; yet I've never felt any desire to perform. There are many like me: where do we fit? Passionate student of the art? If you don't aspire to perform, yet you go to sleep thinking about guitar, and you wake up thinking about it - and you even dream about it - mustn't there be a category for you other than "hobbyist?"

kj