Exploring Originality: How Are You Developing Your Own Musical Voice?

General Music Discussion
#22

Since there’s been a fair amount of METAL!! and metal on this site recently, one interesting benefit of it is the willingness to forego standard song structure. I think that applies in this discussion as well.

The longer we all do this whole music thing, the harder it is to find something truly unique. Pop, rock, country, hip-hop, etc can’t really branch out from standard structure in the same way that METAL!! and metal are allowed to. Music that completely ignores it is far more riveting to me. It can get out of hand on occasion (I believe it’s called “Riff Salad”), but I think the price is worth it. Especially when it’s done by other styles that can’t get away from it as easy. My favorite Wu-Tang songs are the ones where there’s no chorus and barely any thematic cohesion. Just 6-10 MC’s saying their best rhymes. It’s almost rebellious.

When it’s done well, its my favorite music to listen to, regardless of genre. A lot of that is in the transitions and the flow. You can be completely original in how you go from one idea to the next. When it comes to guitar instrumental stuff, as much as Satch is my L&S, I find a lot of Vai’s songs to be more intriguing when it comes to his structure. Aside from a few, my favorite Satch songs are the ones that do the same.

#23

Wow, some interesting dimensions there.

One would not use music in a hunting context, you’d all be eaten alive!

Thus words have non abstract communication, relatively, and so typing is much easier and more literal in “comparison”.

Lemme ask you guys something, can you’ll post your honest playing? Not your prepared fancy ass material? Your real self, do you have one, I had my doubts about myself, but I did find myself, not sure I like it, but it’s something, to some. And I’m beginning to be ok with that.

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#24

i wish man but it kinda loops itself, until i end up slamming the guitar into the stand. the same loops, lick combos, until i eventually go back to the creation board and enter in something new and fresh back into that loop. then it kind of repeats lmao!

#25

Brad, it doesn’t matter if it’s it’s 10 seconds even. It’s a start. Post, I’ll follow with a clip as well, may not be fresh material but it’ll be honest.

edit: Didn’t mean to put you on the spot, but the point is there is no spot, just a fun exercise for us, be shameless, there is nothing to lose.

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#26

i like to maintain my privacy, as i know most here are very snarky and snide to others. if you care to hear we can skype sometime once we get to know each other.

#27

Really? I think people are pretty polite and encouraging around here, especially when it comes to giving feedback on playing.

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#28

I hear you, feel free to DM me. But this is exactly the attitude that annoys me, lets celebrate our mid journey mediocrity, hell we try hard and that’s often all that matters, the journey, I don’t care much for 1000th take shiners. Boring.

#29

i am just not fast like you guys think its something so easy. i play chill, and i dont really care to go to the extreme just try to play for relaxation. it takes me quite awhile to even get mediocre fast at things. offer always stands we can jam on a skype or something if anyone wants to.

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#30

Well there’s that word, “fast”, I just want to emphasize, I was alluding to anything but fast, just meaningful notes that are honest and heartfelt. All that widdly stuff is probably three decades late or to be honest maybe even a few centuries off it’s relevance. Few here I’ve heard in any clip have had the chance to express their soul for even 10 seconds.

#31

wish i was dude, but i tried to pry hard with christiaan van hemert in his discord about why i just feel like a mocking bird and zero song bird inside. it sucks but if thats all i got then i can just spin and alter the phrases around.

i understand the frustation, i feel it daily, but i can only do what i can do. i choke it up to maybe i shouldve joined the church choir when i was younger. but i believe some are just more mechanically inclined and others more creative.

the fastest the soul like thing is gonna go is one note at a time and a very slow pace against a drone note most likely. if we are to say completely from my own soul.

#32

Well, to be fair, the site exists to help people with their technique. That tends to be what people post - fast playing identifying what’s holding that aspect back.

Not saying I disagree or anything but it’s generally not a community where the focus is playing from the heart. I honestly have no clue how you even would go about teaching that. “Cracking the Code” needs a sister site named “Subjugating the Soul”

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#33

That’s just the point, you don’t teach that but on a forums such as this, I find it strange there is a drought of creativity, I love those clips of @Scottulus improvising etc, he’s really developed and is not afraid of sharing. I commend his attitude. I find it odd he’s an outlier, my apologies for putting you on the spot @Scottulus. But you are a great example of what we could all be.

Ofcourse speed has little do to do with what I’m really talking about, just devices that are unique to each one of us and that we’re in s safe place to express ourselves. Joe, are there any such forums where this kind of thing is fostered?

edit: btw Joe, I really love your magnet clips on your acoustic guitar doing all that cross pickin. Terrific stuff.

edit2: yes, I’m being unreasonable, my apologies. I can see I sound deranged. This is not the place.

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#34

I don’t know of any. Not saying they don’t exist, I’m just generally unaware of much outside this site because it’s the only one I peruse.

I really had put guitar as the last thing I cared about in life and focused more on my career until stumbling upon Troy’s site. I’d never been part of any online music community and I probably won’t look around either. To me, speed was the thing that always bugged me. I could sort of do it, but I didn’t have command so Troy’s work just spoke to me. Now it makes sense why the things I could play fast were easy, and the things I struggled with felt hard and unconquerable no matter how many hours I’d throw at them. So I pursue the speed aspect just because I feel like I owe it to my younger self, that poor sap who spent years playing stupid exercises lol!

Nah I think you’re onto something

I fully think expression and individuality are important. There are enough great players around here that I’m sure we could do exactly what you’re trying to do. Starting this thread is the first step.

For me, personally, since I’m a hobbyist and gave up on the band dreams, I don’t know if I’ll get back to exploring originality or not, at least as far as the guitar is concerned. My main focus in music was writing, guitar is just so fun it gets in the way and distracts me lol! I do enjoy recording really layered things and maybe that’s as “individual” as it gets for me. More of a “composer/arranger” than a player. The best I think I’ll ever get would be someone saying “oh that tune sounds like Joe”. I don’t ever think I’d get to “that lick sounds like Joe” or “that tone sounds like Joe”. Only so many hours in the day lol! I have to pick my battles plus not get fired from my job hahahahaha!

To me all that stuff is what makes a player who they are. The tone, the note choice, phrasing, and how deep they can reach inside themselves. Even among the best players, there are varying degrees of that. I’m blown away seeing clips of McLaughlin and Shawn Lane playing at these ridiculous speeds, yet the look on their faces tells you they’re on a spiritual journey.

Aww thanks man! I appreciate that! I’ve been having a lot of fun on that little excursion. Still…that’s all very “technique” driven, isn’t it?

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#35

there is this guy on youtube that i use to like but these days i think he is a bit to arrogant dennis chang. although i might not like the guy, he has some very interesting takes on improvisation. he will talk about players who can play many different solos perfectly at tempo very fast, not like me where i would be going around 75% speed of the original tempo, but when asked the guy to improvise he immediately slows way down trying to find phrase and notes to express himself differently. truly using the speed in context is the real crux of the silver lining of all this analyzation and preperation. and as you say twangsta scottulus definitely has this more so than any i have seen on this forum hands down.

#36

I hear you man, I’ve given up on speed as I just can’t do it without causing myself physical harm. So I’ve been concentrating more on playing nice sounding and feelin things rather than blazing fast ones. I’ve made some progress from the techniques though, and people are pretty nice and encouraging around here rather than gatekeeping and telling you wrong stuff like they did in the 80s and 90s.

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#37

I have no desire to ever play as fast as I could at my absolute peak. I only want to be able to play as fast as whatever tempo the Desert Rose solo is (192?) with a little bit more to spare so it’s not tense.

Aside from a burst of speed here and there, I don’t play fast in real life at all anymore. I basically play “slow blues” speed but not actually playing blues. A guitar in my hands just feels like home and the sound has always been calming. If I’m working, I doodle on it with whatever hand available is available, or let it ring out if I’m using both. I still like to jam out to Satch tunes and the like, so there’s some fast stuff there, but usually, I don’t know or care about what I’m playing. I just want to play.

#38

I come here to discuss picking mechanics and related topics. I don’t think I play virtuosic music, but if you want to hear some forum members play their own stuff I’m very googleable. I’d like to think I generally play what is personal to me or at least interesting to me. That’s often more extremes in the “thinking” department than the physical abilities, but, yeah

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#39

I tend to study a particular player but never master their style, if I can take just 1 thing away from any particular player and use it in my playing, Im happy with that. That being said though there is still seemingly alot for me to learn and ive been playing for years. This is the one thing I enjoy most about guitar its a life long thing for me. I never feel like there isnt something to learn. Currently I am pretty fast at pentatonic runs, but bored with themidf that makes sense.( I dont mean to sound like Yngwie but he was right pentatonics get boring )

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#41

I strongly feel that “finding your own voice” or “developing your own style” is not something you try to do.

Have you ever been a little bit lost, trying to find a particular street… only to realize you’ve been on that street all along?

It’s a bit like that.

No two people will value and prioritize the exact same things in the exact same ways. No two people will have the exact same superpowers or limitations. Your own “personal musical voice” already exists… it just may (or may not!) need more development

Anything you seek to contrive, “find,” or “create” will only obscure the true, unique artistic perspective that’s already innate to you

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#42
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