My Own Style
I don't think I have one yet. But I've spent more time thinking about it than I expected when I came to the woodshed. I wanted to focus on developing the skills to play professionally and then start searching for my own voice. But I'm finding that all my efforts to gain the same skills everyone else has, although I enjoy the process, don't seem so important if I don't have a plan for doing something unique.
I was in Borders for a few minutes this evening, picking up random books in the jazz section. I opened a book by Larry Coryell, and he was talking about exactly what I'm going through. He had just fallen in love with Hendrix's music and wanted to apply that intensity to jazz. He wanted it to come naturally and was wary of the pitfalls of "jazz rock." I had only glanced at the page when I had to leave, and it was overpriced so that's about all I read. Never heard much of Coryell's music. I guess that's about to change.
A reader mentioned to me that it seems like I'm trying to pursue two diverging styles in SRV and jazz. Those are exactly what I'm trying to combine. But, like Coryell, I don't want it to sound forced. I'm not trying to bluesify every jazz tune I study. I'm more interested in Stevie's approach to the guitar and the physical strength it required than the notes he played.
What if Stevie had lived long enough to study Coltrane?
That about sums up my intentions.
Josh (10 Jan 2008 at 6:58am)
I don't think merging SRV and jazz are diverging styles at all. In fact, I think that moving towards a more jazzy direction was exactly what Stevie was doing at the end of his life. When listening to In Step, I hear a lot of jazz starting to be incorporated into his music, and I love the direction he was moving.
Jeff (10 Jan 2008 at 11:56am)
I grew up playing SRV and Jimi, and after a while, I began noticing how many other people were "cloning" their styles, especially young guitar aces. It seemed like labels were just using these kids as marketing ploys to attract fans of SRV. Well anyways, I started getting into jazz and jazz theory myself, in my lessons and from jazz books. One thing I like about playing through jazz books is that you can play the notes how you want to play them, adding your own touch. This really helped break out of the SRV box and incorporate some more advanced harmonic ideas. And don't worry, if you love SRV, it will naturally come out in your playing. A few books I recommend are Jazz Structures by Andrew Green, Single Note Jazz Lines by Ted Greene, and The Guitarist's Guide to Composing and Improvising by Jon Damian. Let me know what you think!
Joe (12 Jan 2008 at 12:46am)
Ha, I have two of those books. I love Ted Greene's soloing books (2 volumes), and I try to work through a few of his licks every day. Very helpful, but his fingerings hurt my hands, so I have to change them. I love throwing in slides and microbends, so I know exactly where you're coming from on adding your own touch to licks from jazz books. I'll have to check out that Jon Damian book, thanks.
Brian Barrett (31 Aug 2013 at 11:04am)
I know the post is old. . . but I've been thinking about all the teaching/playing and "voice" stuff lately. I think for better or worse our limitations "right now" are part of our voice. The things we choose to work on (have to ignore what the sub-conscious or that part of my brain that sometimes takes over and pulls stuff out that I have no idea where it came from or what it was) and improve also become part of that voice as well. It's like you said no one ever really feels like they have "arrived". But maybe shaping our "voice" can be better done by the choosing of what to improve. That choosing isn't going to be easy either. . . it will take a lot of work research and time developing or tracking down things to help improve that choice. There isn't enough time to do it all.
Joe (2 Sep 2013 at 3:44pm)
Agreed. A quote along these lines I heard in grad school struck me. It was attributed to Noam Chomsky, not sure if that's accurate. "Imagine you're a biologist, and by some science fiction time-altering miracle you're able to read every book, every journal, every article, every research paper ever written in the field of biology. Congratulations, you're the worst biologist in the world. Because you haven't prioritized. You haven't said 'these sources matter for the point I'm trying to make and these done.' If you don't do that, you'll never say anything of value."
Brian Barrett (4 Sep 2013 at 8:25pm)
It's frustrating. . . the more you learn the more you know you don't know. Thinking about your post on CAGED vs. 3 per string. . . I'm sure now it's a both concept. This thing is good for this sound the other is better for this sound. Although you're probably way ahead of all of that (which is still way ahead of me. . . I understand the concepts). But that's one of the things that even "in a not so great bar band playing in the middle of nowhere IL" people say whoa, what you did there on that song. . . I'm like yeah, I wish I could remember all I've forgotten or at least have "total recall" of what I know now at any given second.
It's nice to see you respond to comments on a 5 year old post.
Joe (5 Sep 2013 at 1:40pm)
The more I study music, the more I realize that the answer to the anything versus anything debate is always both. It makes the path ahead seem longer, which is fine once you accept that the end is unreachable anyway, but tackling both will always bring new insights.
Let me know if you get that "total recall" sorted!
Brian Barrett (6 Sep 2013 at 5:51pm)
"Total Recall" well. . . I need to dive into programming some more. . . I don't think it would be that tough with javascript. The idea is a program that lists practice items for a week. This is just basic stuff randomly generated. Intervals, some Guiliani right hand exercises(2-4 of the ones I think most useful for general playing/fingerstyle), choosing the starting finger for the 24 permutations, a Hanon exercise or two transposed for guitar, picking a chord/scale combo, a specific technique for the week (sweeps, tapping, slides, vibrato, slide playing), maybe a random progression (simple pop progression, back cycle, rhythm changes, a blues turnaround: think "Same Old Blues"), pick a key to practice 3 per string modes. It looks like a lot, the programming definitely is but, if it was something you did sort of warm up style every day each week you'd be doing something a little different. It would have to be "skillable" since just that as a warm up would be most people's weekly practice time. Problem being. . . this is the first time I've even approached writing out a plan for what the program would do. . . it's just been in my head.