Creativity on Guitar: How to Find Inspiration and Develop Your Own Playing Style: Practical Tips from Guitar-Playing Students
The majority of guitarists start playing the instrument due to the desire to emulate their favorite guitarists. Maybe it's a single track, or perhaps it's the entire discography. Whatever the case, each musician has their idols, whose styles we imitate and styles we emulate.
If you're a guitarist looking to develop your own unique playing style, StudyCrumb can help you. As you gain experience as improve, you could be learning and playing the songs of your favorite guitarists. Although it's a huge achievement, it's only the start of a new adventure that will help you develop your style of playing guitar.
The process of developing your style is an art that could take many years. For the majority of players, it's an ongoing process that never is finished. Even the most famous guitarists continue to add new techniques to their repertoire of riffs and explore various methods of using this instrument.
Active vs. Passive
A lot of beginners see developing their unique style as a passive task instead of something active. In the meantime, waiting until a new sound comes to mind or until a previously unheard-of chord is slid between your fingers makes your playing routine simpler but it blocks you from having your sound through the instruments.
As time passes, this attitude of passiveness causes many players to think that they can't possibly play differently. If it's not happening naturally, then the thought goes that it's unlikely to happen in the first place. Whatever the case may be, this way of thinking could not be further from reality.
Nobody has been born with solos and the rhythms are not something that anyone has heard before. The process of learning to play the guitar in your distinctive way requires a continuous dedication to your imagination and thorough research into your style of playing. If you're not willing to put in the effort to be unique You'll never stand the chance of creating a unique style.
When you're reading the rest of this article, try to keep the "active mentality" in mind. Don't be afraid of your work, no matter how it feels strange at times. At the end of the day, you'll emerge from the other end with a greater knowledge of the way you play and how you can improve as well as what practical and theoretical ways you can differentiate yourself from other players.
Genre
The process of creating your unique playing style is largely dependent on the genre that you play in. What is distinctive in one area is likely to be normal in another. typically, some of the most original or creative guitarists of all time simply integrated the most diverse influences into their music.
In that regard, the first step in becoming a more unique player is to think about the norms and standards that apply to the particular music genre (or genres) that you perform in often. Consider the most popular techniques such as chords, riffs, and cliches that are common to the various genres. Take a listen to the best songs from each genre and try to find the most commonly used characteristics.
Your aim in this practice session isn't always to be to eliminate these cliches from your repertoire completely. There's a reason that certain patterns and progressions end up becoming commonplace: they sound great. However, learning to recognize a few of the most commonly used structures in different styles of players will allow you to recognize similar patterns that you can use on your own.
After you've identified the most popular cliches in your genre and you've identified the most common cliches, you can try several ways to use these cliches. In the same vein, the first step should be to observe your play, then narrow down and cut back on your usage of those clichés.
An excellent example of this is the high bend located at the high point of the pentatonic scale which is a classic blues turn-around popular cliche. While it sounds amazing in the right hands, however, many blues players who are not professional use the bend repeatedly in their solos. Often, they sound more like a clone of blues legends rather than an experienced player in their own right.
However, cliches may be your first step towards distinguishing your style from that of a generic style. While you study your particular genre to discover the most frequently used phrases, you should look for the most popular places of use and also. Make sure to change one part of the cliche, such as the pattern or timing whenever you are using it to play.
This is a good beginning point for those seeking a simple method to distinguish their sound. The ability to alter the order of a typical guitar melody or change the sequence of chords in a standard progression, or perform a cliche in an unplanned time can make it sound great while avoiding the dull, boring sensation that many cliches create.
Offering the audience an altered version of the common sound will help your music feel more recognizable without being too typical or stale.
Following the example that we used of how to play the twelve-bar blues bend it is possible to analyze the common pattern and timing of bend melodies. Blues guitarists typically play a high pentatonic bend near the conclusion of their solo or lick or solo and perform it as a kind of "climax" that can take the entire space of the normal measure.
To make it appear more ear-to-ear You can alter many different elements. You could include a short quick bend at the beginning of a long lick. You can use the high bend as part of a scale that is different as opposed to the minor pentatonic scale, giving a distinct sound, however with a distinct harmonic tone. It is possible to prebend the note before playing it in descending rather than the typical upward bend that a lot of guitarists employ.
These little techniques are the very first step to developing your guitar style while staying in the specific genre you play. Utilizing this method with genres that you aren't usually playing can allow you to add more interesting sounds to your guitar playing.
The typical sound you hear or the common sounds you hear in your favorite genres could be a place where you can innovate. Are you a fan of styles that are a fan of Overdrive pedals such as punk rock, grunge guitar blues, punk rock, or traditional rock? Do you like indie rock with a cleaner sound? as well as the rock and roll genre?
Try out the different instruments and instruments that musicians in the genres you love most make use of. You might be able to introduce a new sound to your mix or even apply the classic sounds of one genre to play a different style of music.
Finding outside genres of music for inspiration is standard practice for all guitarists. In these instances, you don't necessarily have to alter the familiar cliches in your music Although these phrases are commonplace within a particular genre mixing them into a different genre creates a new sound that gives your playing a unique feeling of fusion.
Influences
When you have a look at your genre of choice and genres, you must consider your primary influences on playing. What were your first role models when you first started playing the guitar? What players do you try to model yourself after when you are seated to play?
You're likely to have a good idea of the key characteristics of their styles. Your early guitar heroes are likely to be a major influence on your playing and playing improvisation. Like how you look over your music for cliches and typical lines, you must consider your influences to learn strategies.
If you're researching your influences it is best to listen to diverse tracks from various phases of the career of an artist. For instance, George Harrison's direct-to-the-point music and rockwork in "I Saw Her Standing There" differs from his understated, slinky style in "Something." Examine songs from a variety of albums and eras to get a better feel of what elements Harrison (and the other musicians) utilize the most frequently in their music.
One of the best ways to begin this method is to find the most frequently played keys that your peers are fond of playing. In that specific key, what chords can they be included in an arrangement? What are the chords? What are the voicings they employ? Do they prefer chords with extended voicings?
When you look at solos you can follow a similar method: while you record the solos, you should ask yourself questions and then dig deeper to discover other patterns. What scales do your favorite musicians prefer to solo in? Are there notes they can lick on? Do they move or bend into certain notes specifically? What's their experience in the solo?
These questions can assist you in integrating their guitar and songwriting capabilities into your work later on. They're just a small example of how you can delve deeper into the work of an artist to find deeper significance. Consider the traditional tools that are used by songwriters, such as harmony, melody (instrumental harmony, however more commonly vocal harmony), and rhythm.
Playing through a selection of the catalogs of an artist is another method to build an understanding of the most popular techniques they employ. While you practice the music, you'll listen to their most popular moves better when mixing and incorporating these in songs or solos that you compose.
It will also help strengthen your soloing and choral work. The more songs you are studying by a specific artist and performer, the more they aid in the development of your abilities as a musician and music writer.
Be sure to perform this exercise with multiple guitarists, who should play different styles. Each musician has something unique to offer through their style, however, analyzing five different blues musicians will yield less information than studying one blues player or a jazz musician, punk, indie musician, and country musician.
Take the time to study the most unusual and innovative guitarists. If their style interests you, you can follow the procedure above to find out the reasons they're so good. Take note of the most important ideas and techniques they employ when playing, and you're able to apply them to your practice.
Synthesizing the various influences is how some of the greatest guitarists have developed their styles. When you incorporate different aspects of each into your playing and style, you will develop more distinctive. Being aware of the need to incorporate different techniques from various genres in your improvisation or patterns of the chord will accelerate the process.
Techniques
In addition to imitating the broader characteristics of genres and learning the best techniques of your guitar idols In addition, you must focus on finding fresh and innovative phrases and licks to use when writing your solos and songwriting progressions.
Although your influences could be the primary sources for playing techniques, there's almost certainly a sameness between studying a particular artist and learning specific techniques. But finding concrete methods is a vaster scope and the willingness to draw inspiration from a variety of sources of ideas.
It could be a matter of looking beyond your preferred genres to study different methods as well as listening to artists who perform other instruments than guitar. For instance, the famous jazz guitar player Grant Green was known for listening to horn players almost all the time. As a result of his unique influences, the guitarist developed an original soloing style that is based on single-note phrases that resemble saxophones as well as trumpeter licks.
Jazz in general can be described as a vast array of licks and techniques that are outstanding for guitar, no matter if they were composed by guitarists or other musicians. Utilizing these techniques can be difficult, but it can make your guitar stand out from the rest of the players before you can even incorporate these licks in the solos you compose.
Transcription is the most effective method to master the majority of these methods. It can be difficult in case you're not competent enough however, implementing these methods naturally lets you figure out the most natural approach to master each technique.
Instead of trying in attempting to perform a particular lick on a tab that is located at a particular spot in the neck transcribing the licks will give players the flexibility to perform the technique where it feels most comfortable for them. In addition, is that the repetition necessary to master the art of transcribing the music will help you to lock the technique more permanently in your brain and give you an idea of how to modify the technique to create your own.
It can be challenging to comprehend The first attempts to learn the notes of an exact passage will usually result in mistakes. However, these errors, if they are not made promptly can also be excellent solo licks of their own. When the idea of a specific solo is formed inside a player's head ingrained mistakes may appear. This is another chance to take the ideas of a guitarist and transform them into your own.
The most well-known kind of "technique" to adopt is an idea for improvisation or licks that an individual musician is prone to revisit. However, in practice, the technique could be a distinctive sound that is created by a mechanical technique such as Mark Knopfler's fingerstyle play of the thumb barre of Jimi Hendrix's chords as well as James Burton's chicken picking'.
It's easy to make seemingly insignificant adjustments to your playing mechanics, like whether you play with your palms on the strings and where you position the fingers of your guitar or the position you place your hands over the guitar as playing can all affect your playing and sound. If you notice any musicians using unusual techniques that use to create an unusual sound, think about testing it out to determine the possibility of being able to apply the same method.
It's crucial to keep in mind that many musicians, including professionals, don't have an exact technique! Don't try to copy the style you hear on stage without analyzing and you may end up performing with less effectiveness or even injuring yourself due to poor technique. Be aware when mimicking the techniques of other musicians and only continue to play in this manner in a way that is comfortable and allows you to improve your abilities as a guitarist.
Style, Feel, and Stage Presence
Just as crucial as the concrete techniques are your style and your feel when playing. Each guitarist's style affects their playing technique in a particular way from B.B. King's soulful butterfly vibrato, to Pete Townshend's powerful taking-no-prisoners' Windmill playing technique.
The reason for this is the individuality of each musician; creating your style in the studio or on stage can differentiate your music from others within the same genre.
At least a portion of your style must evolve naturally. Making up a character for a game or trying to create an unrealized persona for the sake of "feel" is likely to make you feel uncomfortable as well as rigid (unless it's David Bowie).
Your style will dictate the way you dress on stage, the way you hold your guitar, the way you strum, and the way you play specific notes. It isn't easy to develop your unique style if you are only playing in your home with no audience. At a minimum, you should try to organize some jam sessions with your friends who are playing different instruments as well as local performers to gain more experience in playing with groups. open mic night is a great alternative.
Consider how you normally perform on stage when playing with other people. If you're like many players, then you'll feel shy or nervous about making mistakes in the beginning; it's normal for younger or less experienced gigging performers to be hesitant at first in front of the spotlight.
Compare that to the way you would like to appear on the stage. The majority of guitar players (though they're not the only ones) want to move around on stage more often, engage with the audience, and show off an even more rock star swagger.
Another chance to look at how your idols played whether they were more seated do they move. Did they act extremely aggressively or were they more relaxed? Did they approach every gig with a certain mindset or did they alter their style and mood during their performance?
Even if you want to show more confidence on stage and not be focusing on your instrument as you play, keeping an eye on your idols is a great method to reach your goals. Pick a little bit of the stage presence of each performer to make your mix.
Again, however, it's essential to keep your unique personality. Avoid imitations that are cheap and cheap of your favorite musicians however tempting it might be it's much harder to earn acceptance for yourself and your unique music and style of playing when you imitate a player's stage performance!
Creativity
The ability to think creatively is the key to being a unique guitarist. While incorporating various techniques of your favorite artists and genres could aid in standing out from others in a particular sense, the best guitarists come up with their original patterns and riffs.
If you are having trouble coming up with fresh ideas while sitting down to play the guitar It can be beneficial to practice a few exercises to warm up before you start.
One of the best ways to begin to feel comfortable in the process of creating is to place yourself in that of one of your favorite musicians. Instead of taking their licks while playing them, attempt to come up with an original lick that is similar to the guitar style they used to play. Imagine playing the music of their favorite guitarists and then trying to come up with a new lick using a few of their most popular methods.
The same method works for chord progressions, too. If you've been studying the chords that your favorite musicians prefer to use the most try combining some of them into an arrangement that you haven't heard previously. You could also consider using different variations or voicings of these chords to give an unorthodox feeling.
When you are more comfortable playing on the styles of your idols and styles, you'll be able to cut back on the influences that you draw from and begin to rely on your imagination. Utilize melodies, chords, or even notes that appeal to your ear, and then explore different neck areas to discover your ideas. Change the way you perform to create something fresh.
Although it may seem contradictory that you put these types of limitations on your playing could inspire your creativity. Inducing yourself to take notes outside of the norm of your "wheelhouse" can be the most effective wa
y to improve your abilities and create an outstanding playing style.
Being creative becomes more enjoyable as you get more experience It's never too late to begin playing. Continue to overcome any obstacles and even the most polished professionals still incorporate some elements from their influences in the past.
Historical Examples
Here are some examples of the most famous guitarists across the ages and the ways they created their distinctive styles.
The stories of their players show that there isn't a "magic bullet" here -every musician found their unique way to play instruments, as well as their style, wasn't fully formed in their heads until one day. Becoming a truly unique musician is a gradual process, and it's crucial to stay in that direction even when you don't feel like you're doing much.
The Beatles
The Beatles remain one of the most well-known artists in musical history. Their fame-making rise was preceded by performing more than a thousand hours of music for concerts in Hamburg, the German cities of Hamburg. While their early influences focused heavily on early rock and roll musicians with a significant dosage of rockabilly one of the most important elements of their enduring sound was another source.
Harmony vocals were hardly present at the beginning of rock and roll because the singers were usually singing by themselves. The Beatles did, however, learn of harmony vocals from vocal groups such as those the Everly Brothers and Motown girl groups such as The Shirelles along with the Supremes. They also embraced the Broadway scene, including show tunes such as "Till There Was You" into their routine set.
Although they were the best band in the world and were the main force behind the British Invasion, the Beatles kept on innovating. From 1965 they absorbed elements from California music from The Byrds and the passionate music from Bob Dylan to more exotic Indian Raga and the growing music scene known as psychedelic.
The albums also exhibited the constant desire to create even when they had a huge amount of success, they were always looking to alter their style. Sometimes, this resulted in an abrupt change in their style as albums came out.
In analyzing the process by which the Beatles came up with their unique style It's easy to think of them as just being virtuoso musicians. However, a deeper look at their history reveals a lot of the characteristics mentioned above.
The group listened to a diverse range of artists from diverse musical styles before combining these influences into a distinctive mixture of techniques and sounds. They honed their performance skills and developed their unified approach by playing for hours in small audiences. Most importantly, they kept incorporating different styles into their work, without losing their core personality.
It is evident that The Beatles are unique and no other band in the world today could achieve their degree of popularity. However, anyone can take their techniques as a basis for creating their style of playing.
Eddie Van Halen
While his guitar tone sounded different from Beatles, Beatles, Eddie Van Halen was a follower of the same regimen of rigorous practice and mixing his influences to form his signature guitar style.
When he was a teen, Van Halen recalled that the guitarist would work for hours in the evenings while his friends were out at parties, from seven o'clock in the evening until three o'clock in the morning. While he first began playing the piano, and then played drums, before switching to guitar, this arduous practice routine swiftly increased his skill and improved his performance on stage.
The band Van Halen was also a renowned admirer of Cream in the sense that he had all of their songs written down note-for-note. While they would later be the most influential factor in his improvised breakneck style Van Halen, found his signature technique through another source: Jimmy Page.
Van Halen claimed his experience seeing Page perform the solo on the Led Zeppelin track "Heartbreaker" and then pull off of the fretted note onto an empty string prompted him to start tapping. Utilizing his finger in place of the nuts and then pulling off with the other, Van Halen came up with the method that changed the face of hard rock and metal during the 80s.
As he became more at ease using the tap-tap technique Van Halen began applying the technique to tunes from different genres such as blues guitar triplets. The improvisation technique is a common element used performed by artists such as Eric Clapton, Van Halen was among the first guitarists (if not the first) to tap triplets over different strings on the guitar.
In reality, Van Halen's soaring compositions were original to the genre of hard rock in the era. In a genre that was of music that was dominated by the brief sharp, choppy, and fast-paced punk and ska, Van Halen frequently used scales and cliches from other genres, like classic rock and blues.
As with the Beatles Van Halen, too, is a remarkably talented musician His style of playing is among the most famous throughout the recorded history of playing the electronic guitar. Yet, he was able to create the principal elements of that legendary sound by studying and combining some of the most distinctive techniques of his top players and adding elements of different genres to the rock scene.
Johnny Marr
Johnny Marr is another legendary guitarist who is best known for his work in The Smiths and Modest Mouse. Marr perfected his signature style while growing up living in Manchester, England in the 1970s.
Contrary to the Beatles and Eddie Van Halen, all of whom got their influence from blues rock and early rock and roll, Marr intentionally steered clear of blues influences when he played. Concerning blues in the same way as "already done," Marr rather found inspiration in early 1960s pop groups, girl groups in the 1970s, and glam rockers, like T. Rex.
Marr was also able to replicate different instruments including rhythm guitar, vocals, and keys, using his axe when was practicing. The training helped him integrate playing techniques that he learned from other instruments. His playing could be reminiscent of keyboard or vocal lines more than the traditional guitar parts.
The music he was listening to help in establishing his distinctively non-macho stage vibe. Marr did not want to evoke the hard rockers who swagger in the 1970s, opting for a more conservative style that emphasized his music more than the art of performing.
By incorporating influences from diverse and atypical genres in his music, Marr created a style that redefined the function of guitar to a new generation and helped to create genres such as alternative, indie, and Britpop.
Summary
Making your unique style is perhaps the hardest task on the guitar. Professional players struggle to do it. Famous figures fall short every single time. Even amateur players who have been playing the instrument for years usually haven't considered enough to create their style of playing.
Navigating this maze it is necessary to have a multi-faceted approach that incorporates elements that come from different aspects of your guitarist. It's not an easy task however with the right combination of licks, talent excellent influences, and confidence it could become an amazing success story later on.
