Developing Your Own Style

Musical influences have a lot to do with shaping creativity. The music you love is as persuasive as it is inspiring and for forty years, the guitar has been my means of expressing and articulating the music I love.

'For me, it makes sense to listen to a lot of different styles of music. I pride myself on being a versatile guitar player. Much like creativity, developing versatility starts with what inspires you. Look at it like this: The first time I heard Prince's Purple Rain album it was that blistering guitar solo at the end of Let's Go Crazy that really got my attention. So much so that it inspired me to start saving the money I earned from mowing lawns, eventually saving enough to buy my first guitar.  always thought it was kind of strange. Here I was, this fourteen-year-old kid who loved Heavy Metal. My bedroom walls were plastered with Iron Maiden and Ozzy Osbourne posters yet it was Prince ho inspired me learn to play the guitar. I remember my friends giving me shit about it, but I didn't care. I had a deep appreciation for his music. He had such a unique style that was this incredible blend of soul, blues, funk, and rock. Not to mention he had a mysterious presence about him that made him interesting. Prince was the real deal with a resume of musical talent that comes along maybe once every half century. When it came to playing, recording and performing, his work ethic was the strongest the music world has ever seen. Consider this: Prince wrote every song he ever recorded which include 30 top forty hits. Nineteen of which went top ten and five of which that went number one and six more that went to number two. Over his 35-year career he sold ninety million records worldwide. Prince also wrote hit songs for other recording artists, including Sinead Oconner's "Nothing Compares to You." That song went number one as well and won a Grammy. Prince also fluently played twenty-seven different instruments including the guitar, bass, piano, a wide range of different keyboards and synthesizers and he was a master percussionist with the ability to play the bongos, congas, orchestral bells, wind chimes and twelve other instruments. Couple that with his flamboyant and androgynous persona, his incredible ability to play guitar, sing and dance at the same time, his starring role in a movie about his life, along with a wide vocal range of high falsetto and Prince's trademark soulful scream and it's clear that his legacy is cemented in music history as one of the all-time greatest musicians ever. If you ask me, he should be considered arguably the most versatile musician the word has ever known.

It's easy for me to say that his legacy has been a huge inspiration that had helped me become a versatile guitarist. having the ability to play different styles and genres of music has helped me get into bands that played the delta blues, rock and roll, heavy metal, jazz, Motown and funk. 

While musical influences play a major part in inspiring creativity and defining your style, you also need to grow your musical knowledge and incorporate your experiences and emotions into your playing. This helps in adapting new sounds and techniques. Being versatile does a lot for sharpening your skills and inspiring new ideas. Learning to be versatile always made sense based on the guitar's long relationship with so many musical genres. For me, the guitar represents the driving force behind music's evolution.  

Becoming a versatile guitarist comes mainly from listening to and appreciating many styles and genres of music. Like most people, as a child I listened to the music my parents listened to. Growing up in the seventies, that meant being subjected to mom's disco and soft rock and my dad's country music. As a young teenager, I became fascinated by Hard Rock and Heavy Metal. I loved the hair bands and thrash metal. It's all I listened to. I would sit in my room for hours learning to play bar chord guitar riffs from metal bands. Then, I saw the movie Crossroads in 1986 and got a dose of something other than rock and roll or heavy metal. Of course, the main reason I went to the movie was to check out Steve Vai, but about halfway through the movie there's this incredible slide guitar piece called Feeling Bad Blues by Ry Cooder. Before that, I had never really heard much blues music that interested me, but the sound of that glass bottle neck slide brought the blues to life for me. It was as if the guitar itself was weeping, pouring out the pain of the world. Hearing that song gave me a profound appreciation for the blues. It's a style of music that is deeply expressive and steeped in relatable sadness. It also introduced me to the guitar’s poignant pentatonic scale, which translated into a more accessible approach to playing lead guitar.

After 40 years of playing, I see the blues as not just a music steeped in soul, but it also represents the interconnectedness between all of us. Sort of an impermanence within the continuity of life which gives the guitar its enduring power. 

I suppose it's no surprise that the rock blues style of David Gilmour also had a huge impact on me. His solos seemingly sing to the soul, flowing and speaking fluid melody through a progressive construct of melodic sensibility. His solos are both complex and rooted in emotion creating a perfect balance of virtuosity and expressiveness. He demonstrated a range of techniques, from bending notes and sliding to incredible use of vibrato, which gave his style depth and dimension. His ability to bend notes should be recognized for its precision and profound feeling. His influence is why to this day I rely heavily on bending notes when soloing.
During my first decade of learning to play lead, there were many guitar players who influenced me. Being that it was the eighties, arguably the best decade for the guitar, there were literally hundreds of guitar players to choose from, but the ones that really had the biggest impact on me were Tony Macalpine, Gary Moore, Joe Satriani and Yngwie Malmsteen.
In my opinion the most important technique you can master when it comes to soloing is the use of vibrato and bends. Yngwie Malmsteen's use of both is insanely good, helping cement his legacy, placing among the all-time greatest guitarists. When you consider the energized balance of speed, depth, proportion and timing, all characterized by such unique tone. Then top it all off with exceptional use of bend and vibrato it has enabled one of the most technically proficient and fastest guitar players ever to also play with an incredible range of feeling and passion. 

Being such a huge fan of Yngwie would lead me toward music that was more technical and progressive. My musical knowledge got a huge boost when I started listening to Queensryche and Savatage, which would lead me to the inventors of progressive metal and arguably one of the best bands on the planet, Dream Theater. Known as a musician's band, it makes sense that they have had the most influence over my style. With every member a master of their craft, guitarist John Petrucci stands alone for being the band's founder, main song writer, lead guitarist, and producer of some of the most incredibly complex song arrangements ever. He effortlessly glides through ever changing time signatures and shreds intricately unison solos with the keyboards. At 56 years old, he is at the peak of his game.

As the leader of Dream Theater, his portfolio of accolades speaks for itself with two grammy's and numerous awards for Guitarist of The Year. With incredible shredding and sweeping technique mixed with a slow hand of deeply expressive bend and vibrato, he has rightfully earned his place in the upper echelons of the guitar-playing world.

Over the past two decades, Joe Satriani has led his G3 tour where he features two of the best guitarists in the world. It's no surprise that Petrucci has been invited to G3 more than any other guitarist. It's a well-deserved honor when you consider his huge international fan base and a legacy of being one of the top 5 guitarists of all time. During a recent interview he was asked what advice he would give to an up-coming guitarist. His answer was perfect and simple. "Be creative."

For me, the process of learning to play the guitar in my own distinctive way means having a continuous dedication to what you do best. Having the skill to be versatile and the imagination to be creative inspires the willingness to put forth the effort to become great. It means not being afraid of the work you have to put into it. Eventually you'll get there and carry with you a greater knowledge of the instrument. The way you play will always need improvement in practical and theoretical ways. Thats the way it's supposed to be. If it was easy everybody would be playing. It's supposed to be difficult. That's a big part of what makes it great. Because it's hard one day you'll find yourself playing the way you always wanted, and you'll hear the distinction between yourself and other guitar players. Always hold onto the gratitude you feel in that moment.