Developing your own style/sound

[ccroft]

A forum member has a quote in their signature from Branford Marsalis (?) about finding your voice. Something like:
"Don't worry about that. Put in the work and your voice will find you."

That's not to say you can't work on refining your voice once you have something to work with.

[rpjazzguitar]

It’s a complicated question. I’ll make just this single point:

For the guitarist who has all kinds of chops and abilities, that is, the kind of player who could go in any direction, that player has to find his own style, somehow, from within.

In contrast, for a mere mortal, to some extent their style is dictated by what they can and can’t do on the instrument. That is, it’s involved with what mechanisms a player can develop to get around weaknesses. They may be unique and contribute to a unique style.

Then, it's what music you have inside and the choices you make to figure out how you’re going to express it.

A goal I’ve heard is having your mother be able to identify your playing in a few notes on the radio. I think the mothers of Wes, Pat Metheny, Carlos Santana, Mark Knopfler, Charlie Christian, and others meet this criterion. Those are just the names that leaped to my mind. I know that there are many others.

[Bop Head]

Don't recall that one, I liked his method to remember past lives though.

This is a very amusing book (he describes the past lives recall technique in it) -- Magick Without Tears - Amazon.com

I do not know if Crowley was really amusing. At least Gurdjieff would not let him stay at his place in Fontainebleau.

The exercise I was talking about was given to Crowley's students in Sicily AFAIK. Each one of them should start a relationship with the most unattractive woman they could regarding her outward appearance and learn to really love her.

[Christian Miller]

So, I know most of us here are not professional players, but have you ever thought of or attempted to develop your own sound?

Sitting here on the patio listening to various jazz, and Vince Guaraldi comes on. And he’s instantly recognizable because of his style/sound. The chords are instantly recognizable as him.

It got me to thinking, do I have a sound? I have no idea. I know I’ve never tried to develop one, I’ve always just played where the music took me. Has anyone here made an effort to develop a unique sound, or is that maybe just what happens naturally based on your influences and practices?

I know others have thought about this, I’d love to hear different perspectives.

Not sure if this is a reason but it’s something that occurs to me.

Most discussion of jazz is couched in terms of what notes to play. How these notes are played is much less frequently a topic of discussion.

Partly this is no doubt because the details of note choices - especially in todays jazz - are more involved than in say blues, where sound is kind of the main thing. But it strikes me that this might also be a symptom of jazz’s widening separation from blues.

That said while there’s less freedom in how a musicians should sound, the cultivation of tone is of great importance to classical music.

And one reason I don’t buy the composition argument is that there are many classical instrumentalists and singers whose sound is instantly recognisable, although again to my ears these are often the older musicians. I’m not sure a Glenn Gould or Julian Bream would exist today, or a Prez or a Ben Webster.

Developing one’s sound requires a focus on the how and not the what.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Christian Miller]

All that said I find it much easier to distinguish modern jazz guitarists from older ones. There’s more diversity in sound and approach, while it can be harder to distinguish between a bunch of post-bebop mid century guys on archtops - you need to intimately know their playing.

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ruger9]

In contrast for a mere mortal, to some extent your style is dictated by what you can and can’t do on the instrument. That is, it’s involved with what mechanisms you develop to get around your weaknesses. They may be unique and contribute to a unique style.
.

In a Johnny A. interview, he quoted a famous guitarist, I don't remember who- might have been Beck or Page- , who said, essentially, "your personal style is more defined by what you can't do than by what you can."

[Mick-7]

I do not know if Crowley was really amusing. At least Gurdjieff would not let him stay at his place in Fontainebleau.

The exercise I was talking about was given to Crowley's students in Sicily AFAIK. Each one of them should start a relationship with the most unattractive woman they could regarding her outward appearance and learn to really love her.

Crowley's writing is amusing in the particular book I mentioned. It's a collection of correspondence to a student of his so his writing is more informal in it. I could see how he and Gurdjieff would be at odds.

[henryrobinett]

I wrote a lengthy post on this thread last week. But it got lost after I tried to post it. Heartbroken. Yeah and I haven’t gone through the thread, so apologies. I was mentored by my cousin Charles Mingus. His wife told me I misunderstood what he told me but I took it to heart. Basically he said play your own shit, even if it stinks. So I went the hard road and never copied anybody. I ear trained. I studied music and I listened and listened and listened. I played and played and played. It never made sense to me that if I walked around all year in someone else’s clothes I’d end up with my own style of dressing. Or talking. That’s the way everyone learned. But not me. I didn’t care if I sounded awkward or not like XYZ. It’s harder. Takes a hard head. But I always had my own sound even if it was built on ignorance and a weak frame. I think jazz is all about having your own sound. It’s about being yourself. And being comfortable and confident in yourself. That’s what art is, right? How can you sound like yourself when you’re trying to sound like everyone else? I know the answer. And fitting those things in your likes/dislikes, eventually you come to yourself.

Anyway this is what I was trying to say last week. I said it better then. I was never trying to be original. I just never wanted to overtly copy. I just never wanted to sound like X, Y or Z. But if I did, I didn’t care. It was me.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[Bop Head]

I wrote a lengthy post on this thread last week. But it got lost after I tried to post it. Heartbroken. Yeah and I haven’t gone through the thread, so apologies. I was mentored by my cousin Charles Mingus. His wife told me I misunderstood what he told me but I took it to heart. Basically he said play your own shit, even if it stinks. So I went the hard road and never copied anybody. I ear trained. I studied music and I listened and listened and listened. I played and played and played. It never made sense to me that if I walked around all year in someone else’s clothes I’d end up with my own style of dressing. Or talking. That’s the way everyone learned. But not me. I didn’t care if I sounded awkward or not like XYZ. It’s harder. Takes a hard head. But I always had my own sound even if it was built on ignorance and a weak frame. I think jazz is all about having your own sound. It’s about being yourself. And being comfortable and confident in yourself. That’s what art is, right? How can you sound like yourself when you’re trying to sound like everyone else? I know the answer. And fitting those things in your like eventually you come to yourself.

Anyway this is what I was trying to say last week. I said it better then. I was never trying to be original. I just never wanted to overtly copy. I just never wanted to sound like X, Y or Z. But if I did, I didn’t care. It was me.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

Myself When I Am Real