how to develop a style

[eddievanzant]

so how do people develop a style?
i basically noodle around with the scales and chords i know, and it sounds good, but i feel like i don't have a style really. like if i wanted to sound jazzy, i don't know how. i know how to sound funky, because i can play something with a funky rhythm and voila it's funky. i know it's a noob question but what have you guys done?

[Kman]

Imitate, internalize and innovate. Imitate somebody and as you internalize you then innovate.

[mr. beaumont]

Well, I'm not positive I get the question--personal style is one thing, sounding jazzy is another.

As far as developing a personal style, it's getting over the "anxiety of influence." When we're young/starting out, we have heroes and we try to emulate them...as we mature, we try to distance ourselves from that emulation...but when we really become ourselves is when we acknowledge that influence and let it be part of the bigger picture that we are...

Now, as far as sounding jazzy, there's two things you have to consider (and this is a gross oversimplification, as you'll spend the rest of your life learning jazz if you really get into it)

1. Play the changes. When the chord changes, you change. No more noodling in one scale over a chord progression.

2. Chromaticism to set up important notes.

[Kman]

Take a simple tune like So What and a lot of begginers just solo on D dorian but in reality it's

D dorian/D dorian/D dorian/A altered

or

D dorian/A altered/D dorian/A altered

or

D dorian A altered/D dorian A altered/D dorian A altered/D dorian A altered/

You can even break it down further.

[mr. beaumont]

I'm guessing that's pretty far beyond where the OP's at right now, Kman.

[ejwhite09]

you may think I'm being flippant, but I'm not....just play. When you're young your speech parrots those around you, as you learn to manipulate the language you begin to make your own metaphors, etcs. Just play. Think of melodies and figure them out on the guitar. Listen to licks and figure them out on guitar. Your own style will not come until you have a fluid understanding of the fretboard. Scales, arps, modes, etc are all simply tools to facilitate fluid understanding of the fretboard(practically), theoretically they have higher purposes, but practically they serve to illustrate where these concepts are on the fretboard. Always think of them as means to an ends. Spending hours learning the A Dorian mode, is frankly pointless, unless you come across a tune to apply it to.

You're style will come, but you've got to get the basics ingrained in you. Ear training and learning tunes, is pretty much the only thing that will get you there. It's worth to point out that a lot of our 'jazz heros' didn't really 'know' what they were doing. Not to say they didn't have intense understanding of music, but they had an intense practical understanding of music, an intense theoretical understanding of music is really superfluous to playing music. The goal you're after is just hear something in your head and be able to execute it automatically. You should be hearing things you want to play in your head all the time, and you should be chasing technique and theory merely as a means to access that.

Doing this will help you learn the language of the music and once you have a fundamental understanding of that you can start making your own metaphors....I caution, this will come neither quickly nor easily.

[Stringbean]

Originally Posted by eddievanzant

so how do people develop a style?

Good question. I suppose one needs to analytically break down the style into component chunks >pitch, rhythm and dynamics.

From pitch >melody, harmony
From rhythm >tempo, meter, articulation
From dynamics >timbre, texture

Each element serves function as mechanism to deliver and define the style.

Combine that with how much your mommydaddy loved you, and you get your own sound.

[randalljazz]

for good or ill, whatever i play, i sound exactly like myself...

[monk]

Originally Posted by eddievanzant

so how do people develop a style?
i basically noodle around with the scales and chords i know, and it sounds good, but i feel like i don't have a style really. like if i wanted to sound jazzy, i don't know how. i know how to sound funky, because i can play something with a funky rhythm and voila it's funky. i know it's a noob question but what have you guys done?

Howard Roberts was always adamant about listening to and copping from as many people as possible.

I've heard guys that focus on one player like Wes Montgomery or Django Reinhardt or Chet Atkins or Duane Allman who can't do anything but that one bag. Then I've heard players who've listened to dozens of players who eventually distilled all their influences into a personal thing.

Also I think it's important to listen to other instruments for ideas that are less about guitar and more about music.

[franco6719]

Originally Posted by randalljazz

for good or ill, whatever i play, i sound exactly like myself...

+10...I can't seem to avoid it either....

[gingerjazz]

Since i gave up trying to sound like other people i feel like a weight has been lifted,i found it harder to sound like someone else than i did myself.Now wether i am worth listening to ,well thats for someone else to say.I am sure you sound more like you than you realise.

[franco6719]

Originally Posted by gingerjazz

Since i gave up trying to sound like other people i feel like a weight has been lifted,i found it harder to sound like someone else than i did myself.Now wether i am worth listening to ,well thats for someone else to say.I am sure you sound more like you than you realise.

+10 I would just add: and don't be afraid to make "mistakes". In fact, don't be afraid of anything. Just a thought....

[monk]

A player's style is the result of his or her influences. The more influences, the more likely one will sound "unique".

Creating an identifiable style/sound such as Wes Montgomery, Chet Atkins or Johnny Smith is very rare and may well be the unconscious manifestation of choices made while learning to play as opposed to the conscious decision to "create" a style.

[paynow]

Originally Posted by monk

A player's style is the result of his or her influences. The more influences, the more likely one will sound "unique".

Creating an identifiable style/sound such as Wes Montgomery, Chet Atkins or Johnny Smith is very rare and may well be the unconscious manifestation of choices made while learning to play as opposed to the conscious decision to "create" a style.

+1. Listen a lot, play a lot, transcribe a lot, hope it comes out eventually.

[gpower]

I agree with all the folks who say play! Your own style will develop from your ear and affect everything from your phrasing, to your tone.

[TruthHertz]

Two answers from my experience:
This is a story related by Mick Goodrick, who used to work with the great alto player Jimmy Mosher. They were talking about style and Jimmy said "don't even think about it, you don't have a style until you're 40." Mick was in his mid 30's at the time, had made his mark and was known as a unique stylist, but he said when he reached 40, he understood. Something that happens at a point in maturity that is a synthesis of what you've integrated, copied, learned, forgotten and done gets mixed into a soup, and at some point in your self realization, it all comes together. For many it's a point in life that hits at 40.
That's just an anecdote that was conveyed to me. What I got was: Do what you do and don't worry about having a style. Break new ground and gather the resources and skills that are necessary to your personal satisfaction. The style will come unbidden at a point when you stop trying.

The second answer is a quote from Joseph Schillinger "Genius is the realization of a tendency." I think this applies to developing a style. If you tend towards something, don't deny it; develop it. If you tend to like seconds and unorthodox pauses in phrasing, go with it. That's Monk vs Hans Groiner . If you work hard on the fundamentals and notice questions and directions that lead you towards your own answers, you're on the right track.

I'd say love the music, listen with intent and devotion, work hard and get to know yourself. Give it time.
David

[JakeAcci]

Cool post, Truth. I think that one of the most contrived things is to intentionally push oneself to be "unique" so I like the idea of simply playing and doing what feels natural - finding a genuine voice rather than an artificial one.

[Jazzaluk]

Interesting ideas. I think that discovering your style might be like sculpturing. You don't really know what it will look like until you carve away everything that doesn't belong.