Embrace Your Originality And Uniqueness On Your Guitar
When we first start playing guitar we learn a few chords and try to mimic our favourite players. This is a perfectly normal process of learning to play the guitar.
By copying our favourite guitar players we can learn a lot including phrasing, note choice, comping techniques, dynamics, rhythmic vitality etc.
These are all very important elements of music and are great areas of study even when you can’t play the guitar for various reasons.
But how many people do you see on Youtube that look like Slash, play Guns & Roses songs note-for-note using a Les Paul through a Marshall and even have the same rock pose stance as Slash? Too many!!
Now think of your favourite guitar players. Aren’t they all different to each other even though they might be in the same genre? I’d bet that they have a different pedal set up from each other and probably even play different types of guitar through different amps!
Don’t Worship Your Favourite Guitar Players
You can certainly admire and study the playing techniques of your favourite players but don’t worship them to the point of obsession.
The point is to learn from your favourite players then do your own thing which might not even sound anything stylistically like the stuff that your favourite guitarists are playing.
A great example is that of Eddie Van Halen who loved Eric Clapton when Clapton was playing in Cream. Eddie learned everything that Clapton played back then by ear. Yet, when the first Van Halen album came out Eddie sounded nothing like early Clapton. He innovated, super charged what he heard and found his own voice in the process.
I’m willing to bet that the vast majority of top guitar players have similar stories.
So learn from your favourite players then move on and find your own originality and uniqueness on the guitar!
Are Cover Bands Good?
The music publishing market is squarely aimed at having guitarists learn other people’s songs. With all the magazines, videos, webinars, lessons etc aimed at playing like another person you have little chance of finding your own voice.
Most guitarists start in cover bands which is great as you need to learn how to play with other people for other people. Playing in a cover band is also great fun and fairly easy to do as the music publishing market above will show you exactly what to play.
By playing in a cover band your playing will improve too especially if you are practising for more than 2 hours per day. However at the end of the day you are still playing other people’s music with little space for originality unless you are playing something like jazz which is probably not likely in your first band.
Of course if you want to work as a guitarist then playing in cover bands might be mandatory as people like to hear songs that they know. However you can still squeeze in an original song in the set here and there. If the response to your original song is good then you could add a second etc.
Embrace Your Originality and Uniqueness on Guitar
As a person you are entirely unique. Isn’t that amazing? Out of 8 Billion people there is only one you!
Perhaps one reason why people don’t embrace their uniqueness in music or in life is that they are afraid of being different. There is no reason to be afraid of being different.
If play something that is different in any way that you can imagine whether it is a style, tone or a technique etc and you really enjoy playing this way then don’t worry what other people think.
In fact this is a life lesson in itself – don’t worry what other people think.
Think of Stanley Jordan or Eddie Van Halen with their tapping techniques – they changed the way that guitar is being played today! Imagine if they were to afraid to play that way, it would have been a terrible loss for the guitar community.
Another reason that guitarists prefer to play other people’s music could be the fear of the unknown.
When playing 60’s rock for example you know what the end result will, or rather should, sound like. When you write your own original guitar material who knows what you will find (this is actually very exciting!).
Most people like to be safe in every area of their life. They life in a house that keeps them warm and dry, they try to find a life partner because two are stronger than one, they try to get a good paying cushy job etc.
When it comes to music people like to play it safe too and, generally, people are lazy. It’s much easier to play Smoke on the Water again then to try and write your own original material.
Dare To Be You
A great way to find yourself in music is to write your own material.
Many guitarists, such as B.B King and Eddie Van Halen, tried to copy their heros but just could not sound like them. They could only sound like themselves playing other people’s songs! As they wrote their own material they found their own voice, ran with it and inspired a generation or two or three.
Writing your own material is easy although it can be time consuming.
Start with a blank slate then try to hear some original music in your head. Try to play this music on your guitar. Once you can play it on the guitar record it on your phone and listen back to it the next day.
Now ask yourself some questions such as what do I hear that should come next, what can be improved, did I get my idea down correctly? etc
There are multiple sound clips on YouTube of top guitarists doing just this when they were younger and they probably still do the same thing today.
So now it’s your turn.
Write whatever makes you happy and don’t worry about sticking to the rules. Rules are meant to be broken. Ever hear about a guy called Frank Zappa? Experiment and enjoy!
Which Brand of Guitar and Amplifier?
The next time that you want to buy another guitar or amplifier think of the following advice.
Buy the guitar first.
Think about what you like about a guitar in terms of specs. If you don’t know what your favourite specs are go to a guitar shop and play and compare as many guitars as you can.
Once you know your favourite specs then buy a guitar with these specs or at least a guitar with as many of those specs as possible.
Don’t worry about which guitars your favourite guitar player is playing.
Try to find as many guitars as you can with your specs then play all of them.
The guitar that you want to buy is the one that feels natural to hold (you’ll understand when you’re holding it).
Then take that guitar and play it through as many guitar amps as you can and pick the amp that sounds best with your new guitar.
This is the best way to get your own original and unique sound.
Before You Play A Note
Before you play a note take a moment to look inwards and ask a few fundamental questions such as;
- Who am I?
- What brings me great joy?
- What do I want to give to the world?
- Am I comfortable in my own skin?
- Am I comfortable enough to be me (why or why not)?
Also ask yourself some musical questions;
- Which styles do I really love to play?
- Do I play anything that I find really interesting?
- Do I want to play this interesting thing for other people?
- How much time can I devote to music?
- How does life affect my music?
As you can see these are just some basic questions. You can dive deeper into these lists of questions in order to find out who you really are.
Once you know who you really are, and are honest about it, then creating original and unique music will not be a problem.
Your Guitar Bag of Tricks
Almost everyone learns the same chords and scales when they learn to play guitar but to expand from this basic foundation to creating unique and original pieces of music you will need the following.
A Good Ear
A good ear is essential when carving your own path with original music.
When you write music you will hear your internal ear telling you what should come next.
You should then be able to play what you hear in your minds eye on your instrument fairly quickly.
If your ear is weak then start doing ear training on a daily basis.
Technique
You may find that you don’t need too much technique when writing your own reverb-laden, echo layered ambient music or you may find that you hear all these sweeps in your mind for which you need incredible technique.
In short you need to be able to play what you hear.
Theory
The ear training vs theory debate is old now. Ear training and theory are two sides of the same coin.
For example in jazz there’s a term called back cycling. It’s basically V of V of V etc.
You can also use back cycling in your original pieces.
The theory will tell you which chord to play but your ear will tell you what type of chord, or which voicings, to play.
Of course you also need to know which notes go with which chords etc.
Learning theory will open a lot of doors so don’t be afraid to learn it!
Don’t forget to apply the MGH 13 steps to musical integration to your playing.
Why The Mick Goodrick Books Are Great!
When learning classical guitar you’ll see that almost all of the pieces are thoroughly marked out with playing directions. In old style classical circles, and especially for classical guitar exams, you must play the pieces exactly as directed in order to honour the composer (or please the examiner!).
This is all well and good but a more interesting book with solo guitar pieces is Mick Goodrick’s 36 Pieces for Solo Guitar book (soon to be republished, keep an eye on our newsletter). The pieces in this book are very nice yet not one of the pieces has any playing direction, even the indicated tempo is missing!
Such a book allows for greater knowledge of musical direction as you have to apply all musical elements (apart from the notes and rhythms) to the piece yourself.
The Mick Goodrick Alamanac’s will definitely allow you to create very unique and original pieces as only the notes (in letter form) of the chords are listed.
This means that you can find these chords in a variety of places on the fingerboard. Once found you then have to create your own music with these chords.
If you are confronted with new harmony, such as that found in the almanacs, then you can only approach it in your own unique way.
Modern guitar harmony that can be found in the almanacs range from quartal harmony to triads over bass notes to non functioning harmony. You can be assured that when diving into this stuff that much of it is unexplored and as such is an excellent base to start writing unique music.
The following short etude was composed using volume 2 of the Goodrick almanacs (available for free here).
The piece sounds a little classical, a little dissonant, a little chromatic in the middle but I’m sure that you’ll agree that it sounds unique. At the very least the modulations sound original. There are not many (any?) pieces that modulate like this.
Next Level Guitar
Certainly playing Nuno Bettencourt’s Rise solo is next level guitar but many of us don’t have 6 hours per day to play guitar.
A far easier way to achieve next level guitar playing is to find your own voice, stay on your own path and enjoy your playing.
This way you will find your own originality and uniqueness on your guitar.
Nothing can beat that.
Peace.
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