Creativity - Any tips???

O

oldschoolrock

New member
I have been playing for about 10 years now and have come to a point where I am sick of myself. All my improvised solos sound similar (to me anyway). Some say it is my style or my sound but honestly I am in a bit of a creativity rut.

What do you guys do to "freshen up." Learn new licks, learn new songs, bla bla bla. Any ideas??? Get new equip? Effects? Take a few lessons?

Thanks in advance...
 
Re: Creativity - Any tips???

Listen to other kinds of music, learn new stuff, push yourself in other directions, think when you play, at first it will feel stiff and mechanical, then later on you will stop thinking and just play....and that is how it goes all the time;)
 
Re: Creativity - Any tips???

When I'm in a rut I pick a technigue, such as picking and modify it a little (which is what I'm doing right now). I'm looking at picking through the eyes of a drummer and focusing on the rythm only. It seems to be opening up some doors. There are ways you can use what you already know just in different ways. Hope this helps!
 
Re: Creativity - Any tips???

That SL1 is not what you want to be playing. It'll hold you back. I'll buy it off of you for $500. PM and we'll talk.



:27:
 
Re: Creativity - Any tips???

Stay inspired. Never stop learning new things (songs, scales, techniques, theory). If you really don't want to practice shredding, don't. Play some acoustic stuff, but mainly, keep it enjoyable. Don't let yourself get stuck in ruts. Listen to new music or take a break for a day or two.
 
Re: Creativity - Any tips???

Guitarist said:
That SL1 is not what you want to be playing. It'll hold you back. I'll buy it off of you for $500. PM and we'll talk.



:27:
Click to expand...

I would never sell but I am cuirous...why would the SL1 hold me back??
 
Re: Creativity - Any tips???

oldschoolrock said:
I would never sell but I am cuirous...why would the SL1 hold me back??
Click to expand...
Large amount of sarcasm...I own a SL2H and I want another Soloist!! :)
 
Re: Creativity - Any tips???

Get your hands on as much music as possible...see if there's somthing you can really connect with. That tends to be the best inspiration for me.
 
Re: Creativity - Any tips???

In essence improvisation is spontaneous musical composition. The weight of the focus therefore lies in the synthesis of melody as far as the soloist is concerned. Scales/Modes are not enough! See Form and Analysis courses.

Here are some ideas:

1. "There is nothing worse than a person who doesn't respect commas and periods." - Miles Davis

The use of silence says as much as playing a 1000 notes per second. Learn to incorporate rests in your playing. Technique alone is not always sufficient to generate emotional content.

1a. Create rhythmic interest: Don't just play an endless steam of 16th notes. Put some eights, dotted eigths and pitches of other duration in the mix. Make your solo sing a song in this way. Avoid sounding like a technical drill.

2. Use repetition: This is why every music major is required to study Bach and Mozart. The classicists learned to master the art of repetition in thematic material aka sequence. Just about any fragment of melody can repeated in sequence. Even a single note played twice in a row can be considered a sequence so this leaves lots of room for experimentation. Learn to make it deliberate though and not accidental. Sometimes try just repeating rhytmic patterns while ignoring pitch constraints. Sometimes the sequence can be a literal trasposition (exact intervals), while in other situations a relative transposition is called for based on harmonic/modal changes in the music (relative intervals based on harmonic constraints).

3. Theme & Variation:

a. Develop a short melodic theme. A couple of bars perhaps. Now play only half the theme in the first measure. In the second measure restart (perhaps in a new key per chord change) the theme but finish it entirely this time. This will cause a natural sequence + the added bonus of the second half of the theme being appended gives a sense of completeness. The listener can feel where your going subconsiously. Dealing with the listeners subconcious is deep man! Its a lost art these days! Ppl will get a tingling sensation down thier spine man!

b. Play a theme. Then play it backwards (possibly transposed to a new chord).

c. Play a theme. Play the same theme with inverted intervals (in reverse intervalwise).

Remember that restatement of the theme using the vehicle above need not be literal. Transpose your restatements to fit the chord progression unless you desire playing "outside".

4. Study some jazz: Young modern musicians ignore jazz to thier peril. Its funny but everyone that "thinks" they're good is a carbon copy of the next guy that "thinks" he's good! LOL! A bunch of scale playing robots! Take away the effects, whammy bar and distortion and we have a tragedy! Some jazz idioms change chords every two beats. Imagine having to solo to that. Contrast that to the guys today that go nuts on one chord that last 4 measures! I'm unimpressed. Just because you don't like/understand it does'nt mean you can't learn something useful from it. You don't have to be a jazz player. After all it's already been done! I'm just saying you need to be a scientist about it all! If you can learn just a little bit from jazz you'll have a tremendous vocabulary compared to the modal harmonic playing junkies of this day and age! What better way to create your own style and break out of the Steve Vaiism!
 
Re: Creativity - Any tips???

I agree to listen to new music. Something that you wouldn't ordinarily listen to. Different guitar players, sax players, trumpet players. Emulate the phrasing or comp some licks. I also like to put myself in situations that inspire me. Go to an art gallery, drink some beer and see a tasty blues band, do something that is NOT your daily routine. Scare yourself!
 
Re: Creativity - Any tips???

My best inspirations come from non-musical things. Nature, a museum or art gallery like mentioned above, go on a adventure, etc.
 
Re: Creativity - Any tips???

You could also listen to the folk songs of different nations and learn some of the typical elements of their music to incorporate into your playing. No need to venture into something very exotic (like the Middle East), there's a lot of great folk music in Europe, too.
 
Re: Creativity - Any tips???

Osensei said:
4. Study some jazz: Young modern musicians ignore jazz to thier peril. Its funny but everyone that "thinks" they're good is a carbon copy of the next guy that "thinks" he's good! LOL! A bunch of scale playing robots! Take away the effects, whammy bar and distortion and we have a tragedy! Some jazz idioms change chords every two beats. Imagine having to solo to that. Contrast that to the guys today that go nuts on one chord that last 4 measures! I'm unimpressed. Just because you don't like/understand it does'nt mean you can't learn something useful from it. You don't have to be a jazz player. After all it's already been done! I'm just saying you need to be a scientist about it all! If you can learn just a little bit from jazz you'll have a tremendous vocabulary compared to the modal harmonic playing junkies of this day and age! What better way to create your own style and break out of the Steve Vaiism!
Click to expand...

I agree with that last bit about jazz. I'm not a huge jazz junkie, but I like it fine. When doing theory with my teacher, I asked him to explain even some basic jazz principles. II, V, I progressions and how to build some more obscure chords. I saw my songwriting and soloing skills improve. Even in an intangible way, I liked the way my playing sounded more after going over some jazz material - especially on the acoustic, where there's no distortion to cover your ass, as Osensei mentioned.

This applies to other styles, not just jazz. Learn from ANYTHING you can. Be open.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top