“…you’ve got to have style in whatever you do — writing, music, painting, fashion, boxing, anything.”
Miles Davis
When learning a new technique on the guitar, there’s an abundance of online material showing us how to perform a technique ‘properly’. But how can we develop our own style if we learn using the same method as everyone else?
Steve Vai has mentioned in numerous interviews how he would sit with his guitar and focus on a single technique until he had found something he hadn’t heard before. As an example, the standard way to perform vibrato on the classical guitar is by moving your finger along the string; in Rock guitar, vibrato is traditionally performed by slightly bending the string towards the floor. Rather than stick with these traditional methods, Vai realised he could combine them into a circular vibrato, which would give him a unique sound.
For a great demonstration of this, watch his video here: https://youtu.be/wuRS_hQLLRg)
Tom Morello is another great guitarist who has developed his own unique style by circumventing the traditional approach. By using the pickup selector as a kill-switch and scratching the strings he has been able to make his guitar sound like a sampler or DJ decks.
But developing a unique sound doesn’t need to be so extreme: Stevie Ray Vaughn’s aggressive style is partly attained by his thick strings and heavy picking. Michael Hedges gave his acoustic guitar a percussive edge by tapping the strings, neck, body and head.
So when we learn a new technique, should we just figure it out from scratch by ourselves?
I think it is usually quickest to learn a new technique by following someone else’s instruction, as this avoids a lot trial-and-error. But once you’ve learnt the basic technique don’t rush straight onto the next technique. Instead, experiment with different ways of performing a technique and try to make it your own.
When I was younger , I learnt two-handed tapping using the typical Van Halen style lick:
I then thought of different ways to make it unique. One was to tap and hammer onto the same fret, giving a kind of double-tap sound:
Whilst this isn’t exactly an earth-shattering innovation, it does show that you can add your own twist on a technique. If you can create ten variations of every technique, you will start to develop your own unique style.
Let me know in the comments what technique you are working on and how you can make it unique.
My latest book ‘Guitar Gymnasium: Habits, Hacks and Tricks to Accelerate Your Playing‘ is available on Amazon now.
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