Developing Soul in playing

[fwellers]

I think what people are calling "soul" is actually playing with expression. Once you are comfortable with playing the notes, then you have to turn your ears on and start listening and expressing yourself with the song. Accenting certain notes, playing some more softly, using phrasing, taking some liberties with the rhythm like holding off and playing a note late here and there etc..

[Pitar]

Passion. It makes you want to play, pushes you to begin playing, progresses your playing skills, pushes you to listen better, selects your instruments to best suit the music and then, after it gets you through all those phases, only then will it begin to accompany your playing. It's at that point when playing becomes a privilege of soulful expression.

[embo]

Originally Posted by fwellers

I think what people are calling "soul" is actually playing with expression. Once you are comfortable with playing the notes, then you have to turn your ears on and start listening and expressing yourself with the song. Accenting certain notes, playing some more softly, using phrasing, taking some liberties with the rhythm like holding off and playing a note late here and there etc..

Yes! Dynamics and all those little nuances are really where technical skill blurs with creativity and soul to create some pretty amazing stuff.

Once in a while, I can start to feel it. But it's no one single thing. It's a whole scenario of things that come together to create something awesome. Most of the time, though, it's just me playing, missing that "thing", whatever it is. I would love it if I could get to that place more often, but oddly enough, the elusive nature of it is part of what makes playing such a joy for me.