“How can I develop my own style…my own
sound?” This is the second most frequently asked question I am asked
(“How can I become a great guitarist?” is the first). As a very
broad generalization, people in the United States tend to focus more
on originality, in Europe people tend to focus more on mastery.
Among musicians in general and guitar
players specifically, the approach that is commonly taken to being
“original” is often crippling, oppressing, unnatural. This is why
so many people only seem to struggle and become frustrated. That is
because the typical approach to being “original” is in direct
conflict with the very meaning of the word “original”.
Think about it, the entire process of
being original (and having your own style) should be Natural,
Empowering and Liberating.
I strongly encourage you to read this
article before reading any further:
Originality (When And How)
Ok, so if you clicked on the link above
and read the article, what follows will become much more clear.
Going Against the
Grain…
When you try to “develop” your own
style, by starting from the point of looking to your instrument, you
are going against the grain and thus find it difficult to be
original because all of the typical things done on the guitar have
already been done by others. So in this case, you would be looking
for innovation in a place where it no longer exists in abundance.
Please don’t misunderstand me, I am not saying that I think you
should avoid outside influences, in fact I think outside influence
generally is a very good thing. To some this might appear to be a
contradiction to what I had just stated, but it’s not.
The liberating and more successful path
to take is to begin from inside yourself before doing anything. I
believe this is to a fundamental principle that will always lead to
true originality. Those who say you should not be influenced
or listen to other musicians are not seeing the entire picture. In
way they are on the right track, the problem is they remain on that
track too long. Let me explain…
It’s All About YOU….
In the beginning of your musical journey
to find yourself musically, focus on the fundamental nonmusical
parts of yourself. Before reading any further, please get a pen and
a sheet or two of paper. (Yes please do that right now, you will
be glad you did.) Ok, now write down the answers to these
questions in as much detail as possible. Some of these questions
should really make you think.
1. Who are you as a person?
2. What thoughts dominate your mind most of the time?
3. What emotions are inside of you that you want to express in
an artistic way?
4. What people have affected you and how have you dealt with
those affects? How does it affect who you are now?
5. What events have affected you in profound ways? How might
they have helped forged your personality when you were younger
(especially in
your critical teenage years)? How do these affect
who you are now?
6. Why do you wish to express these parts of your personality?
7. Do you want to connect with the listeners of your music or
are you only interested in making music just for your own sake?
8. Do you want to make your self expression vague or obvious to
others that hear your music?
9. Is your primary goal to entertain listeners or to express
yourself to them?
10. When you are successful at
expressing yourself in your original way with your original style,
if nobody likes it, will you still like it?
If all you ever did was look inward, get
clarity on the answers to the 10 questions above, you will be 90% of
the way to having your own style. The answers to these questions
are the primary origins of expression. Even if you do not want to
express yourself and prefer to express other things that have little
or nothing to do with you, the primary source of your original style
and expression will always originate from within.
Being original means “being who you
really are”. It does not mean you have to be different from everyone
else. There is probably nothing about any of us that is truly
original really. There is no thought in our minds that some person
throughout the world in the past 50,000 years has not already had.
There is no emotion you will ever feel that someone, somewhere else
has not also felt. So every aspect of who we are as people has been
duplicated millions (or billions) of times. Yet we ARE all unique
and different. We are different because nobody else in the history
of humankind has the same exact combinations of thoughts,
emotions and characteristics. My point is, you already are
original, unique and different. So you don’t need to change
anything about yourself in order to have your own style. When you
“discover” (notice I did NOT use the word develop!) who you truly
are, what you are all about, what you want to become as a person and
have absolute clarity about it, you are ready to begin. And now you
will develop your own style because you have discovered your true
self. The whole musical process will become much easier now because
you are working in a natural way…with the grain, not against it…
What to do now…
After you
have focused on the mental side of originality and have clarity
about what you want your style, sound and expression to be all
about, you need to acquire more musical knowledge, skills, and
application.
Knowledge and skills
Understanding how music works (music
theory) is critical. Yes, not every player with an original style
studied formal music theory, but it would be a mistake to assume
that these people were totally clueless about how music worked (at
least for what they were trying to do.) Even a guy like Kurt Cobain
at least understood how certain chords and notes he used would work
together. Yes there was a lot of experimentation and improvisation
that went into the creation of Nirvana songs, but too often people
(even some Nirvana fans) are misinformed when they think all Kurt’s
songs were written by complete accidents. Some level of musical
understanding was in his mind.
The
fastest and most effective way to learn music theory is to take
music theory classes or work with a teacher. Be VERY careful of
attempting to learn music theory on the internet, there is a LOT of
wrong information about theory.
Aural
Skills. You MUST master aural skills (ear training)! How can you
possibly be effective in creating music when you don’t know what all
the notes on the guitar sound like in advance? For more information
check out my article on this topic:
Aural Skills
When you
know how music works (music theory) and can hear it working in
advance (aural skills), developing your own style becomes even
easier. This is because when you hear something you like, you will
immediately understand what it is, why it sounds good, how it works
and most importantly how you can use it in your OWN WAY! For
example, when you hear a very-cool-melancholy-dissonant-note over an
E minor chord and you discover the note is an F#, if you understand
that F# is the 9th of an Em chord and if you can hear
that 9th sound, you will learn to recognize it every time
you hear a 9th played over any minor 9th chord
in any key. You will also be able to recall that
“very-cool-melancholy-dissonant” note whenever you want to use it in
your own playing, improvising and songwriting.
Pay attention to how chords work, how
they interact with each other, how chords dictate the function of
melodies. (This is all music theory stuff). Even if your main goal
is to improve your soloing, the function of chords is critical.
Before thinking about lead guitar ideas, know what your solo is
being player over. This is so important because Harmony (chords)
determine the primary emotional quality of melodic notes.
Try this, get your guitar, play your
high E string open. Listen to how it sounds, what is the general
feel of this note? Sounds basically neutral right? That is because
the E note has not been put into any context (there have been no
other notes being played before it, at the same time or after it).
Now play an open E chord (with the high E string open). Listen to
how the E note sounds now. Play an open C chord (again with the
high E string open), now you hear the same E note in a new way.
Since the chord changed from E major to C major, the function, sound
and emotional quality of the E note changed. This is another small
example of the importance of using theory and aural skills
together. Knowing and hearing such things will greatly add to your
ability to have your own sound. Yes, some other people already know
and use this information on some level all the time. But it’s the
way you use it to fit your own personality that emerges your own
style (more on this later).
In
addition to music theory and aural skills, fret
board knowledge, physical technique and analysis are also very
important skills.
Application, Application, Application…
Beginners and most intermediate players
have not yet developed their own style because they don’t have
enough knowledge and skills, this is to be expected – that is why
they are have not reached the advanced levels yet. For those who do
reach the advanced levels, many fall short in having their own
style.
In order for these players to be on the
advanced (in the way most people define it) levels as players, they
will already have a good ear, understand how music works generally,
know their way around the fret board, and have good physical
technique. On the surface, it may appear these players should be
capable of having their own sound. We all know that not every
advanced player has a really unique style. Yes, some of these
people are not interested in being unique or original (and that is
perfectly fine), but for those that DO want their own style, there
are two main reasons:
The first reason was already stated above in the
section beginning with:
It’s All About YOU….
The second reason is a major deficiency
in application skills. The old saying, “Knowledge is Power” is
totally false! The truth is: “What you DO with what you know is
Power.” Knowledge is only “potential power”, it is a force
multiplier, but not power itself. What you do with what you know
is called application and….
Application is the bridge between WHAT YOU KNOW and THE RESULTS THAT
KNOWLEDGE CAN GIVE YOU!
Phrasing, Improvising and Songwriting
are the main Application skills in music. Many fall short in these
areas because they believe their first task is to learn about and
then spend years practicing the guitar. With my own students, I
generally have them working on application skills right away no
matter what skill level they are currently at. It is a mistake to
put off application skills until after one learns how to play well.
Improvising, songwriting and phrasing need to be learned and
practiced just like chords, scales, music theory and everything
else. Make room in your practice schedule to include application
skills regardless of your current abilities as a musician. If these
things are totally new to you, find a great teacher to work with.
Congratulations on making it all the way
through this long article! The next step you can take right now is
to study the following supplemental articles:
Creativity And Expression - Part 1
Creativity And Expression - Part 2
Originality (When And How)
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