(Credit: Alamy)
Thu 15 January 2026 6:00, UK
If you want to be a successful musician, you could learn a lot from someone like Roger McGuinn.
McGuinn represents a few of the different qualities that a musician desperately needs to possess in order to be successful. One of them is (some would say obviously) musical talent; however, that won’t get you far without the second quality: conviction in that musical talent. It’s lovely having the know-how, but what good will that do you if you let yourself be talked out of your ideas?
There were a number of instances in McGuinn’s career where he had to drown out the naysayers in pursuit of his sonic vision. For the most part, the controversy came from his manipulation of the folk genre. He loved folk music and always intended to become a folk musician; however, he also intended to inject the sound with different styles, namely rock.
One of the first hits he had playing this kind of music was with a cover of Bob Dylan’s ‘Mr Tambourine Man’ which he recorded with The Byrds. Initially, a lot of his bandmates pushed back on the direction he was taking the song in, but McGuinn persisted, and the rest is history. It was no doubt easy for him to have conviction in trusting his gut given the years prior had been filled with affirmations that his musical talent was undeniable.
One of his first jobs was working with Bobby Darin in the Brill Building. McGuinn would have to listen to the hits that were making waves on the radio at the time and come up with songs that were somewhat similar. It might not have been the most rewarding role, but it did give him a taste of how it felt to have a hit song, the success of which allowed him to pursue other musical ventures.
“It wasn’t the hardest work I’ve ever done but was a fantastic learning experience in the actual mechanics of songwriting,” recalled McGuinn. “At that time Surf music was just beginning to become popular so that was what I was influenced by. A few of my songs did get recorded but only one; ‘Beach Ball’ was actually a hit, by a band called The City Surfers; which was really me playing guitar and a bunch of friends.”
The songwriter continued, “It was also a hit in Australia by a singer called Jimmy Hannan and it was the Gibb Brothers (Bee Gees) who sang the harmonies!”
A lot of musicians would have tasted this success and happily enjoyed a career continuously chasing the same thing, but McGuinn isn’t like a lot of musicians. He had ideas surrounding folk music, infusing the genre with pop and rock in order to elevate it. With a vision in mind, he took the money he made from his surf rock hit and used it to relocate to California, where his career really did take off. Once again, he was met with pushback when traditionalists heard his unique style, but McGuinn employed conviction, and the rest is history.
“That record and my savings gave me enough money to leave New York for California where I set about becoming a folk-singer,” he said, “It was an exciting time, playing coffee houses and folk clubs; but when I first started adding Beatles songs to my set list and then singing my own songs in that ‘style’ it upset the traditionalists and I found work increasingly hard to come by until I got a residency at the Troubadour in LA.”
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