| A man named Franklin P. Jones once said something | | | | without having given them a chance. Likewise, |
| along the lines of: "You are what you eat". When I | | | | classical or acoustic guitarists, can sometimes be very |
| was playing my guitar the other night, I thought of | | | | stubborn when it comes to venturing into the electric |
| something quite remarkable: "You are what you listen | | | | guitar. |
| to". | | | | Some will argue that it's a musician's choice to play |
| Just like how devouring too many potato chips can | | | | whatever music they want - I would agree and even |
| make you fat, the music you listen to determines | | | | encourage this. After all, there's only so much music |
| what kind of a guitar player you become. | | | | we can play. It is impossible for someone to |
| The ability to listen is very underrated amongst the | | | | simultaneously become a great blues guitarist, a great |
| guitar community. Most guitarists spend all their time | | | | classical guitarist and a great metal guitarist. However, |
| learning licks, guitar solos and perfecting your guitar | | | | by not checking out and hearing some of these |
| chops. No one, however, talks about listening with as | | | | other musical genres, you would miss out on things |
| much enthusiasm. You may hear a guitar student | | | | you could have learnt. |
| spending hours getting that sweep-picked arpeggio | | | | For example, a heavy metal guitar player could learn |
| right, but you never really find guitarists say they | | | | a lot of licks and phrasing ideas from blues guitarists. |
| spend hours of their day simply listening. | | | | Similarly, the fingerpicking technique of classical or |
| And by listening - I'm don't just mean listening to the | | | | flamenco could also be utilized by jazz guitarists. You |
| same old guitar players, bands and songs you've | | | | may not necessary want to embrace these other |
| always been listening to. That's unlikely going to make | | | | genres with all your heart, but at least you've heard |
| you improve as a guitarist. The kind of listening I'm | | | | the music. |
| talking about has a lot more meaning than that. It's | | | | And who knows - it might even change you as a |
| what I call - the art of listening. I feel that there are | | | | guitar player. When I was in my high school days, all I |
| 4 rules when it comes to listening that will make a | | | | ever wanted to play was shred. I was obsessed with |
| huge difference to your guitar playing. | | | | playing at the speed of light and would spend hours a |
| Rule #1 - Be A Time Traveller | | | | day trying to get my sweep picking right. At the |
| Rule number one is to be what I call a musical time | | | | same time, I was open to learning new musical |
| traveller or a musical historian. Often times, a lot of | | | | theories and wasn't scared of exploring other genres |
| beginner guitarists simply listen to what's currently | | | | of music. After a chance encounter with a Pat |
| popular, or the so-called classic heavy metal / rock | | | | Martino live recording, I changed my guitar playing |
| songs that everybody seems to know. This, I feel, | | | | focus. Today, jazz is my main genre of music. Ten |
| simply fails to go beyond the surface of being a | | | | years ago, my friends would have laughed at me if I |
| good listener. | | | | said I was going to be a jazzer. |
| The following statements which I am about to say | | | | Rule #3 - Explore Other Instruments |
| may offend a lot of guitarists and you should first of | | | | One bad habit a lot of guitarists make is to listen only |
| all understand that it is only my personal opinion. It | | | | to guitar music. Whilst this is rather intuitive, it is a |
| saddens me these days that people think that the | | | | real shame because we can learn a great amount |
| guitar revolves around the likes of Hendrix, Slash and | | | | from other musicians. One thing which I've noticed |
| Eric Clapton and so forth i.e. that the development of | | | | amongst great guitar players is the diversity of their |
| guitar playing has stalled since the times of these | | | | musical tastes. For example, jazz fusion guitarists |
| greats. Whilst these guitarists have certainly | | | | such as Brett Garsed and Scott Henderson |
| contributed a great lot to the guitar playing universe, | | | | frequently cite horn players as their influences. After |
| they are by no means the only ones to have done | | | | adopting this approach, I too feel that listening to |
| so. | | | | other musicians has hugely improved my guitar |
| The reality is, the guitar universe has moved light | | | | playing. |
| years beyond since the days of Jimi Hendrix. What | | | | Guitar players tend to be stuck in a rut of playing a |
| was considered breathtaking and original guitar playing | | | | lot of guitar-sounding licks during improvisation, where |
| then now seems rather boring. What annoys me is | | | | bends, hammer-on's, pull-off's and bends are |
| that we have more gifted musicians and guitarists | | | | overused and abused. Listening to non-guitarists could |
| than ever before but these guys simple fail to be | | | | help us to break out of these habits and inspire us to |
| acknowledged by the majority of people. By gifted, I | | | | come up with some new ideas. For example, I |
| don't just mean good guitar chops - I mean guitarists | | | | regularly listen to pianists such as Herbie Hancock and |
| who also have great composition skills too. | | | | Chick Corea to get me thinking out of the box and |
| Likewise, you can also make the error of listening to | | | | come up with new inspiring guitar licks. |
| just the new stuff and miss out on some old | | | | Rule #4 - Be An Active Listener |
| goodies. Shredders - if you think Paul Gilbert is the | | | | Most of us have heard of the term active listening - |
| god of shred, jazz guitarists such as John McLaughlin | | | | but does it mean when applied to a guitar/musician |
| and Pat Martino have been leaving audiences | | | | context? For me, active listening simply means to |
| jaw-dropped decades before with their awesome | | | | learn as we hear, to take in the good ideas of the |
| picking speeds. You think Eric Clapton was the best | | | | music we hear and to see if we can adapt some of |
| blues guitarist? Check out his influences. Guitarists | | | | these ideas to our guitar playing. It's not simply |
| such as Buddy Guy and Albert King helped lay the | | | | appreciating the music - it's harnessing the music that |
| foundations of modern blues playing and should | | | | we listen to. |
| deserve a good deal of attention as well. | | | | Readers of my blog will know that I believe in the |
| In fact something which I highly recommend you to | | | | one-lick-a-day principle. The idea behind it is to learn |
| do is to do a biography search on your favourite | | | | one and only one new lick a day, spending the entire |
| guitarists and find out who their influences are. If | | | | day internalizing the lick so that it can integrated into |
| these musicians were able to influence and form the | | | | your guitar improvisations. The biggest source of |
| playing style of your favourite guitar players then | | | | these new licks isn't from a website, tab sheet or |
| surely, they must be worth at least a listen. | | | | book - it's the music that I listen to. My approach is - |
| Rule #2 - Explore Different Genres of Music | | | | when I hear a lick that I like (which doesn't |
| There is a lot of self-labelling that goes on in our | | | | necessarily have to be from a guitarist), I make a |
| society, guitarists included unfortunately. You hear a | | | | note of it and transcribe it later. This transcription also |
| lot of guitar players branding themselves as being | | | | helps you to develop a good ear - one of the vital |
| purely shred or metal. They have little interest in the | | | | tools for good guitar improvisation (i.e. playing what |
| other musical genres and dismiss these genres | | | | you hear in your head). |