Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Simon Seungmin Cheon. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Simon seungmin, thank you so much for joining us. You are such a positive person and it’s something we really admire and so we wanted to start by asking you where you think your optimism comes from?
I think it comes from trusting the process. I wouldn’t say that I am 100% confident in my playing or abilities but I do know that by slower working at my craft and making connections, it will definitely lead to opportunities. But when things go the way I didn’t expect them to be I always just tell myself that it is all part of the process!
Thanks, so before we move on maybe you can share a bit more about yourself?
My name is Simon Cheon and I am a guitarist based in LA. I was born in South Korea and raised in Hong Kong. I started playing the guitar when i was 15 starting with metal, rock moving on to RnB and fusion world. After highschool I wanted to learn more about the instrument so I attended Berklee college of music with major in performance. At Berklee I spent most of my time studying jazz and exploring other new genres. After graduation I moved to LA with hopes of getting more into the session recording world and working with other independent artists. I always loved performing and the vibe of a recording studio so coming to LA meeting different artists and recording guitar for them is definitely a dream come true. I recently came back form a Midwest tour with an artist (David Rosales) as a lead guitarist in the band and I also have a musical coming up at GWC theater in Orange County.
If you had to pick three qualities that are most important to develop, which three would you say matter most?
I think one of the most important qualities you need to have to become successful as a musician is being able to repeat and go through the mundane stuff. Of course being able to perform and playing the tunes you like feels amazing but to be able to have fun with the instrument you need to practice the basic boring stuff over and over again to master your craft.
Another thing would be to be patient with your instrument and not compare yourself with other players. There will always be players who are younger and better than you. But everyone has their own journey and I think comparing is just a worst thing you can do to kill your confidence. keep practicing and you will get better!
Lastly another important skill is being able to hang. In other words, be friendly and become the nice guy that people actually want to hangout with. I am also still working on this since small talk and communication is not by strongest skillset. Because if you go on tour or record something, you only play about 2-3hours max and the rest of the time is just hanging out with the people around you. So this one is very important as well.
Alright, so before we go we want to ask you to take a moment to reflect and share what you think you would do if you somehow knew you only had a decade of life left?
This might be a constant struggle that all freelancers go thorough but currently It’s only been a year since I graduated college and being a freelancing guitarist, it’s hard to have steady gigs and opportunities. I haven’t been able to play as much as I used to in college so my challenge is putting my name out there in the scene and finding more opportunities with artists and hopefully in the next few months my schedule will be full of fun shows and music.
Contact Info:
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/synsyn9702/
Image Credits
Elaine Leng, Natalia Toache, Ethan Yu
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