Development of own style
Sun, 07/21/2013 - 10:05
Hi David,
This is probably a big question. I just saw Nemeth over the weekend and I realized he really has his own style that he's cultivated from all the other stuff he's listened to. Obviously Rod sounds different than Clarke even though they came from the "GH Smith school". Everyone's listened to the "big 4" too. I've learned a lot of songs and worked through improvising lessons. Save for a few of the first position lessons, I've made it through all the lessons a few times. I know it takes time, but how do I start to develop my own unique sound? I mean obviously coming from the Dave Barrett school of playing, I'll have a certain sound to my playing but how do I make it my own?
Taylor
The general consensus is that if you keep studying the greats that came before you, and you're diverse in who you study, that you'll develop your own sound over time without making a conscious effort of it.
The general cycle is that you...
1) Study players that challenge you.
2) After you've run out of challenges you go back to the artists that didn't impress you at first, but now that your musicality has grown, you can appreciate what they did have to offer... which is not usually technique, but approach.
3) You stop studying harmonica players and study other instruments (harp players love to study horns and organ). This help you to not think so much in the parameters of the limitations of the harmonica and start thinking more free.
Enjoy the journey, you're still in your woodshedding years...