We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Tyler Victoria. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tyler below.

Tyler, appreciate you joining us today. What do you think it takes to be successful?

I believe that success is the sum of specific knowledge, leverage, and accountability. When you consider your unique inclinations and pursue your genuine curiosities and passions. You will find that the knowledge and skills you have in that area come naturally to you and can’t be easily outsourced to anyone else. When you’re true to yourself and spend time creating a trademark you and you alone are appreciated for, it gives you leverage that will compound and become your success. The greatest leverage for success is also in relationships! So always prioritize your contribution to others.

Tyler, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

My name is Tyler Victoria. Im from Conyers, GA and Im best known for my work as a guitarist, producer, and musical director. I’ve worked with countless artists across the country, doing everything from studio session work and production to live performance and arrangement. As a musical director, I work as a bridge between the artist and the band to bring the artist’s vision to life using language that the musicians understand. I also do quite a bit of creative work in the musical design and pre-production of shows and tours. It is my priority to put the best show possible together given the budget and resources available. My journey as a musician began in middle school where I began playing guitar and clarinet at 12 years old. I spent summers in Philadelphia going to studio sessions with my older sister, a signed writer and background singer, and taking lessons from my uncle, a keyboard player for the Village People, responsible for producing hits like “YMCA”. Before I became a professional guitarist, I was classically trained in music composition at the University of Georgia as a clarinetist. Later I transferred to Georgia State University where I studied Jazz guitar and became a touring guitarist with multi platinum, grammy nominated artist Marsha Ambrosius of Floetry. Since then I’ve played on several nationwide tours, musical festivals, and even performed for President Obama in Washington DC.

I’m heavily influenced by jazz, soul, funk, and R&B. My great aunt is Billie Holiday, and my family is full of passionate music lovers. My dad would blast The Temptations, Al Green, Marvin Gaye, Wes Montgomery, and Minnie Riperton through the house. But my mom introduced me to dance music from artists like Prince, Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, and Chaka Khan. As I fell in love with guitar I favorited artists like John Mayer, Jimi Hendrix, George Benson, and BB King.
Over the years all of that kind of blended together and helped create my own sound I would describe as bluesy and emotional but always groovy. In college I played snare drum in the marching band so as a music director, I prioritize making sure the band has a good “pocket” and interesting changes in rhythm.

In all of my work as a musician my primary goal is to inspire people to feel deeply. I’ve always been an extremely emotional and empathetic person. Playing guitar was my coping mechanism to express myself and all the big feelings I had growing up. So now I try to synthesize those feelings for others, and make sure that the music communicates the essence of a feeling everyone can relate to with or without any lyrics. I like to believe that is what my clients know me for and trust me to do with their music. I make an effort to really get to know the artists I play for and bring the emotiona behind their experiences through in the music.

I’ve had a lot of success as a performer and producer, but in the future I hope to expand my reach by bringing my compositions to tv and film.

Can you talk to us about how your side-hustle turned into something more.

After college I got a job working in healthcare admin because it was a well paying job and it made my parents happy that I was finally doing something “serious” with my life. Meanwhile, after work I was as busy as I had ever been in the music industry. I had just landed my first major placement on an album with Summer Walker, played my first music festival, and had finally solidified my own fan base as well as a reputation amongst industry professionals for being a valuable asset to a lot of the most exciting rising artists in the city. As an empath working on the business end of healthcare was a truly miserable environment for me. I made a somewhat sudden decision to leave that job and become a full time musician because I realized that with even just with the few hours I had after my 9-5, the money coming in from music alone was enough to cover my essential bills. It wasn’t nearly close to my healthcare salary , but it was enough, and it would greatly increase my mental health to be out of the hospital environment. So I took the leap.
After jumping (recklessly) into being a full time musician I realized I didn’t have any of the business infrastructure I needed to work effeciently as a self employed individual and struggled to figure out setting up a business entity, bank accounts taxes, and contracts as an infant entrepreneur. If I could go back I would have learned those things and prepared more before leaving the security of my salaried career. But now I can say making those mistakes taught me the true value of having my paperwork and accounting in order, and learning that enabled me to go into bigger opportunities with a more professional disposition that my clients respect and appreciate. Now I have bigger clients and label contacts that work with me not only because of my talent as a musician but because of my professionalism as an entrepreneur, with invoices and contracts ready to go.

We often hear about learning lessons – but just as important is unlearning lessons. Have you ever had to unlearn a lesson?

For a long time I believed that simply being a great musician would be all I needed to be successful. I couldn’t have been more wrong. Talent and relationships took me far, but once I was amongst the professionals I realized that EVERYONE was talented (if not even more talented than me). The ability to make great music was merely the bare minimum. People were running circles around me in the studio because they also had in-depth knowledge of engineering, mixing, or producing. I had none of that when I started out, so if I wanted to be a valuable asset amongst professionals in the industry I had to diversify my skill set and learn things that would set me a part from other musicians. Realizing my favorite part of being a musician was live performance, I dove head first into learning everything there was to know about live production. From live arrangements and in-ear mixes, to stage design and video/lighting sync, Im confident I have the knowledge to produce shows at the highest level. But all that started with realizing just being a killer guitarist wasn’t enough.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: @tyleronguitar