Playing styles, are you a jack of all trades, or a one hit wonder?

[DukeX]

I do a lot of different stuff, some of it unique, some of it common, none very well, but well enough to entertain myself.

[archerscreek]

There are some hilarious replies in this thread, and the question is an interesting one. At times in the past I focussed on a single style of playing, thinking it would help me "master" that style enough to play in front of an audience. Interestingly, the times I focussed like that is when I experienced my slowest rate of improvement and growth as a player. So for me I've found that the more styles I can competently play the better I sound in each individual style. Learning new stuff makes everything better.

[musicman1951]

I can play most styles, but my classical playing is less than classical concert level. I play jazz flute, but not really jazz guitar. I obviously understand it, but fluency requires hours I have not paid.

[DesertTwang]

One hit wonder here, completely focused on flatpicking bluegrass-y and Americana-esque type of music. I find this playing style and the depth of the associated musical canon so deep, rich and technically challenging that I don't think I have enough days in my life left to ever really delve into a completely different style. I think the fact that I started to learn guitar late in life (in my 30s) and more seriously only once I hit 40 has a lot to do with this feeling of having my hands full with flatpicking.

[vindibona1]

I don't limit myself in terms of style. I was fortunate to start out with folks/fingerpicking lessons (sans pick) but then playing rock as a kid used a pick exclusively. I seem to go from style to style as my longer term mood kicks in. Right now I'm mostly focused on bass guitar, but if a project or band or group pops up on my radar I'll shift again.

[Laughingboy68]

I use my guitar to accompany my vocals. However, the really good singers I know think I’m a good guitar player, while the really good guitar players think I’m a pretty good singer. When I play, the guitar has to serve as a chordal foundation, the bits and pieces of top melody line, as well as the rhythm section. It’s an individual style that allows me to play solo fairly effectively. I’ve seen it done better by better musicians - my arrangements usually compromise a bit to get the essential parts across without boring me or my audience most of the time. Some boom-chuck strum, some flatpicking, a little chord melody, and some fingerpicking (I wish I had a better independent thumb). Just trying to get by...

[Pitar]

Good discussion. I'm more focused than I am anything else. I have a narrow musical preference and play to it. I don't listen to it, or much music generally speaking, because I enjoy making it more than listening to it. What and how I play it is an ever evolving journey of finger picking. I have no genre I gravitate towards. It's all free-spirited done in a free style manner of picking that purposely eschews repeating patterns. So, I suppose you can say I'm more of an improviser that I am a player of all things familiar.

[TBman]

I started out as a strummer/flat picker back in '64ish, then to hybrid about 12 years later. I finally went to 1/2 finger style 1/2 hybrid in the early 90's, stopped playing for a while, then went back just as finger style early 00's.

[jpd]

My fingers follow their own drummer.......

[islandguitar]

These days all fingerstyle, although years ago (60's) in a "folk group" it was both finger picker and strummer.

In the last 15 years, it's been fingerstyle with original instrumental songs. I tend to have a variety of old and established patterns and then when composing develop a style of picking that works with what I'm working on with new picking or a combination of new and old patterns in order to further the melody . Recent stuff has incorporated some palm muting and a little "boom chuck" type style to get where I'm going with a few pieces.
I'd love to move to a little bit of jazz in the future.

[Steel and wood]

Jack of all trades acoustic and electric. (Learning to play or at least simulate multiple sounds, styles and genres using a pick, fingers or combination, although I started out primarily wanting to sound like a country guitarist). Anything and everything from Travis picking and other forms of finger picking to flat picking to hybrid country lead picking to jazz walking bass lines. (A real work in progress this one).

Everybody's journey is different, but I got more enjoyment learning to play and improvise any number of musical styles and genres than I did learning to play songs or set tablature.

[Jim Owen]

I’ve been a Swiss Army knife—played many electric gigs as a lead guitarist, worked in theatre pit bands, played acoustic solo for brunch crowds.

Now, chances are, I’m playing Travis style. I may do a few electric gigs a year or gigs where I back up a buddy. I’m part of a duo and a combo and most of what I do is thumbpick and nail(s).

[brijas99]

What a fun thread ! I love the blues and anything closely associated to the blues. Lots of rhythm with notes and riffs thrown in here and there. Enjoy just playing chords up and down the neck, just making it up as I go.
Lately I've been working on blending some jazz type chords into the blues mix which is allot of fun. Mostly play acoustic, but break out the electric every now and then when no one is around so I can crank it up. - Always good fun ! -
Tried to expand my world by playing finger style for a little while, and was doing OK, but it just wasn't my thing and it faded.
So yep, I guess this puts me in the one hit wonder box.

[donlyn]

Playing styles, are you a jack of all trades, or a one hit wonder?

I follow where my ears lead me. Or better yet, where they have led me. Being of the older variety, most of my music comes from the 50s, 60s, and 70s. But I do not feel bound or defined by any genre or song. There was mass cross-pollination in musical styles back in the 60s anyway. I try to make the music my own, yet still recognizable; just with my stamp.

For example, if you listen to "Walk Don't Run" by Jimmy Smith, then Chet Atkins, and then the Ventures, you will find a lot of differences, as each musician puts his/their own spin on it. Personally, I prefer the Ventures version, but I am not locked in to slavish imitation of that, nor can I be as I mostly play solo. My current version is fingerpicked on acoustic 12 string, especially having worked out a substitute for the whammy bar ending. I'm feeling good about it so far. (I have a soft spot for old rock and roll instrumentals, but in addition to R&R, folk, blues, rockabilly, and country are good sources too.)

Don
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[donlyn]

Originally Posted by Skip Ellis

. . . It's been a good run and I'm just starting on exploring DADGAD for my own enjoyment. In the past, it's always been about the $$$ but now trying to do something for me but it's hard trying to learn something that I'll never perform outside my living room - not a lot of market for Scottish airs and O'Carolan tunes in my neck of the woods.

Hey Skip Ellis,

If there's not a lot of market for Scottish airs and O'Carolan tunes in your neck of the woods, try creating one. Slip one in and see what results you get.

Coincidentally, I have very recently started DADGAD stuff too, and I'm in my early 70s. I have been listening to a player named Tony McManus, and ran across his video of Sí Bheag, Sí Mhór

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-DLJYk7LI0s



OK, so it's an O'Carolan tune. But in another video, he was talking about starting with the melody and building your own arrangement around it. That's his process, and after telling his background story, he gives the recipe around the 9 minute mark in this one:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWfVznJpvIc

I was stuck a bit trying to learn what he was doing, when instead I tried doing what he suggested. So I am now up to 3 tunes in DADGAD, all instrumentals, and only one of which is Irish, "Rising of the Moon". The others are Donovan's "3 Kingfishers", and Stephen Foster's "Old Folks at Home". No Irish need apply for those two. (Meant sarcastically, bit of a joke; I'm from Boston and of Irish descent.) Anyway, bottom line is, it's great fun and if that's what got him going, that's what I'm trying. Besides, I've always liked doing my own arrangements for solo guitar.

edit> Forgot to mention, but I have a guitar dedicated to DADGAD tuning, and I normally fingerpick everything, using my nails as picks. If I get really good at DADGAD, I may tune one of my 12 strings to DADGAD tuning. Scary.

Don
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