How Guitarists Find Their Sound: A Journey, Not a Destination
5 min read
Most guitarists can recall a moment, often years later, when they realised they were no longer imitating other players. The imitation phase was over, and something new had begun. This is not a sudden process. It builds slowly over thousands of hours of playing, listening, and experimentation, in response to instruments, influences and life circumstances. Instruments like the Gibson ES-330 are involved in this process, but it is the player’s journey.
The Imitation Phase and Why It Matters
All guitarists start off imitating. This is not a handicap to be avoided but an important and valuable step. Being able to copy what a great player does helps develop the ear, technique and the stockpile of sounds, licks, and riffs that will later be recombined to create something new. The blues guitarist who learned all the Muddy Waters licks is not being unproductive. They are building a library. The rock guitarist who memorised every note of every Hendrix solo is not uncreative. They are learning a language that they will one day speak in their own way.
Influences as Raw Material
The most distinctive guitarists are not necessarily those who are influenced by only one or two genres. Rather, they are those who listened to and are influenced by a wide range of music, to such a degree that no single genre influence dominates. A guitarist who has absorbed everything from country and jazz to classical and electronic music comes to the instrument with a broader range of ideas than one with fewer influences, even if those influences are profound. What you put in defines what you get out, and the most distinctive guitar voices are those that reflect a particularly broad diet of musical influences.
The Role of the Instrument in Shaping Identity
Instruments play an active role. The guitar’s unique sound and feel shape what a player does on it, which then shapes their technical and musical development. A semi-hollow guitar, such as the ES-330, has a different resonance, warmth, and responsiveness than a solid-body guitar. Players who play an instrument that responds well to a particular style of playing for a long time develop habits that become part of their identity. The instrument doesn’t shape the player’s voice. Rather, it provides the conditions and environment needed for a musician to develop their own musical voice.
Genre Crossing and the Unexpected Discoveries
Some of the most distinctive guitar voices come from those who crossed genres in ways that others didn’t. Incorporating jazz harmony into blues, country picking into rock, or classical structure into improvised music all create hybrids that sound unique because they are mixing material that is not normally combined. Genre crossing, playing in ways that are not “natural”, speeds up the process of developing a musician’s voice by bringing in new material that cannot be simply mimicked from within a single genre.
The Period of Productive Confusion
Every guitarist reaches a point where they have assimilated enough material to be confused about their playing style. The period of imitation is over, but the individual voice has not yet emerged. This is a painful but ultimately productive period that should not be rushed. Guitarists who forge through this stage rather than falling back into safe imitation tend to come out the other side with something unique. Players who succumb to panic and stick religiously to a single influence at this time often find their development stalling just when it should be taking off.
Recording as a Mirror
One of the most challenging and effective ways to shape sound is to listen back to recordings. What the player feels is unique and original when playing often sounds cliché or generic on playback. On the other hand, those things that sound most like the player’s “true” voice on a recording are sometimes the tendencies that the musician is trying to overcome. A recording offers feedback that playing live does not, and the players who listen to their own recordings with an open ear and mind can improve their skills and develop their unique musical voice more quickly than musicians who avoid this uncomfortable step.
The Gear Dimension Without Fetishism
Equipment is important, but not in the way that gear-based guitar culture would have you believe. The right amp, guitar, and effects setup can create the right context for a player’s natural inclinations to be expressed. The wrong gear can interfere with natural tendencies in a way that can limit learning. But the player who seeks sound through the easier course of buying equipment, rather than the harder course of playing, listening, and experimenting, is simply substituting the easier for the more difficult. Equipment can help open or shut doors. It is up to the player to make sure they can take advantage of the opportunities that gear presents them.
Community and the Sounds Around You
It’s easy to underestimate the impact of the environment a guitarist grows up in. The musician who plays with others is confronted with approaches, tendencies, and solutions that don’t arise in solo practice. Bandmates and collaborators present challenges to the guitarist’s sound that solo practice does not, and the demands of these challenges foster adaptability and musical intelligence reflected in the playing voice. The solo guitarist is practising in a limited environment, without the challenges and stimulation that come from playing with others.
When the Voice Arrives
A musician’s style and voice are not obvious. It is usually recognised in retrospect, heard on a recording or recognised by someone else who has been listening for a while. By the time it is noticed, it has been in the works for some time. This is how it works: underground and gradual until suddenly it is there. Having faith in the process, playing, listening, experimenting, and not expecting too much too soon is the only way to achieve the goal of every serious guitarist.
::: RenownedForSound.com’s Editor and Founder –
Interviewing and reviewing the best in new music and globally recognized artists is his passion.
Over the years he has been lucky enough to review thousands of music releases and concerts and interview artists ranging from top selling superstars like 27-time Grammy Award winner Alison Krauss, Boyz II Men, Roxette, Cyndi Lauper, Lisa Loeb and iconic Eagles front man/songwriter, Glenn Frey through to more recent successes including Newton Faulkner, Janelle Monae and Caro Emerald.
Brendon manages and coordinates the amazing team of writers on RenownedForSound.com who are based in the UK, the U.S and Australia.
