I try not to pigeonhole my playing in just one style. I try to be open for new ideas and analyzing fractions of different forms that I may benefit from.
If a person is a jazz player and checks out techniques from a heavy metal guitarist it doesn’t mean that now he/she is suddenly going to start playing heavy metal. But he/she may find bits in that style that could be implemented into a jazz tune and add some unexpected flavors. It could work exactly the other way, also.
It’s like making food. Imagine a small town where there are three types of people:
Onion lovers.
Tomato lovers.
Lemon lovers.
They all have their own shop to buy their favorite ingredient before lunch time.
Onion lovers go to Onion Mart, only to buy Onion.
Tomato lovers go to Tomato Mart, only to buy Tomato.
Lemon lovers go to Lemon Mart, only to buy… you guessed it: Lemon.
Let’s say that you are that person who loves lemon. One day you decide to make a tomato soup; just for a change. You use your scoop to stir it. You don’t suddenly change shops and become a tomato customer but you like it somewhat.
Next time you’re making your lemon soup, something interesting happens. You use the same scoop that still has some of that tomato flavor and your soup tastes different, richer almost.
Your next-door neighbor discovers the secret of your soup and he tries the same thing but unlike you, who had stirred the tomato soup for 4 minutes, he stirs it for 6 minutes, 2 minutes longer. You both started with the same idea but since you applied it in your own way your soups don’t taste the same. The neighbor across the street adds ginger to the mix, and so on…
Try and be open for new ideas, in music and in life. See where it takes you.
Take care.
