what do session players get paid to work on a record?

say you're a guy in town that gets called to play guitar on recordings every few weeks & they are being done in a reputable studio by someone that's produced some great records & everyone's getting paid to work-what's a standard rate? I know it depends on the budget but if say the engineer who owns the studio & the gear is getting $500 a day what should a guitarist or a drummer expect? I'm fairly new to this getting paid to play thing but I can hold my own as a musician & these people want me to be there...what's a fair price to ask without being a dick? I don't want to offend any potential employeers but I want to be compensated for my time...

Asking the same as the engineer (say $500 per day) doesn't sound unreasonable to me... But of course this depends on a lot of factors - transport time, rehearsal, what are the exact demands etc.

Call the union local and ask what the AFM rate is there. Expect about half of that at best.

If this is a recording session for a saleable project (meaning not a demo) you may want to consider getting a contract and pushing for residuals in lieu of up front money.

Session players usually work for a flat fee of x number of dollars an hour. I don't know what the going rate is now, but back in the 70s the standard was 100 bucks for an hour or so.