If you ask ten different players the best way to improve on your instrument, you’ll get ten different answers: “Practice your scales.” “Learn to sight-read.” “Master the circle of fifths.”
All of those answers are technically correct, but they address the mechanics of playing. They don’t address the artistry of making music. The true number one way to evolve from a competent player into a singular artist lies not in your fingers, but in your ears: Total, uninhibited exposure to as much music as possible.
Your musical voice is not a new creation; it is an amalgamation of every sound you have ever absorbed. To become a deeper, more unique musician, you must make your influences as well-rounded and diverse as you can.
The Problem with the Pigeonhole
As independent artists, we often feel pressure to define ourselves immediately: “We’re a punk band.” “We play desert rock.” “We’re lo-fi bedroom pop.” This is useful for marketing, but it can be catastrophic for your artistic development.
When you only listen to the genre you play, you limit your musical vocabulary to a single dialect. You end up sounding like a competent imitation of your heroes, not an original voice. If every guitarist you listen to uses the same five blues scales, then those are the only five scales you’ll ever think to use.
The greatest innovators understood that their instrument was a vessel for all music, not just one corner of the record store.
The Masters Didn’t Stay in Their Lanes
Think about the players who truly changed the game. They weren’t just genre purists; they were voracious listeners who cross-pollinated their ideas:
- Tony Iommi (Black Sabbath): Do you think the riff master who invented heavy metal only listened to hard rock? Of course not. His playing, while heavy, contains the bluesy bending and structural simplicity of classic American folk and rock. He took the blues template and drowned it in distortion, creating something entirely new.
- Neil Peart (Rush): The drumming legend is the undisputed master of progressive rock, but his influence wasn’t just other prog acts. He famously pulled inspiration from jazz drummers, world music rhythms, and orchestral percussion to give his rock drumming a breathtaking complexity that no one else had.
- Jimi Hendrix: His sound was a revolution in rock guitar, but his fluid phrasing and use of space owe a massive debt to classic R&B and blues musicians he studied and supported.
These artists didn’t reinvent the wheel; they combined the axle from one industry with the tire from another, creating a machine no one had seen before.
Your Homework: How to Diversify Your Input
Stop treating genres like walls and start seeing them as ingredients. Here is how you can intentionally broaden your musical diet:
- Listen Vertically (Go Deep): Pick your current genre and trace its roots back through its history. If you play indie rock, go listen to Velvet Underground, then The Kinks, and then the blues that influenced them. Understanding your lineage gives you context.
- Listen Horizontally (Go Wide): Force yourself to spend a week listening to a genre you think you hate. Don’t judge the surface-level aesthetics; listen for the underlying principles. Listen to Latin Jazz for rhythmic complexity. Listen to classical music for orchestration and dynamics. Listen to hip-hop for its inventive use of texture and phrasing.
- Cross-Reference Techniques: The minute you hear a cool lick, beat, or harmony in an unfamiliar genre, ask yourself: “How can I translate this to my instrument in my band’s style?” A funk bassist’s slap technique might inspire a guitar riff’s articulation. A Klezmer clarinet melody might become a surprising vocal line.
The more diverse the sources of your input, the more original and complex your output will be. Your playing style isn’t just about what you can execute; it’s about what you have heard and how you choose to process it.
So, shut down the genre playlist. Throw on something completely foreign to your tastes. The number one way to become a better musician is simply to become a better, more curious listener.
What is the most unexpected genre that has influenced your current band’s sound?
