Practise Tips 3 - five tunes to listen to for inspiration.

 One of the best things you can do for inspiration is to listen to music. So, where to start? There are literally millions of tunes on YouTube and many more on the streaming sites, iTunes etc. Here is a list of five tunes that I find particularly inspiring, all with links to youtube to make them easy to find.

 The key thing in my opinion is to listen objectively and to think about what you can and might be able to learn and implement it into your own playing via practise. For example there might be a particular tonal sound that the soloist is using. Try to figure out what that is then work on getting it into your playing. This takes time so don't be in any hurry. I have found most concepts take me about 3 months of solid practise for them become habits that sound natural and not contrived.

In no particular order:

1. Hiromi's Sonicbloom - Time Out.  Great band, loose vibe yet tight playing. Love it. You can listen here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mmyujJ7QctI

2. Michel Camilo - On Fire. Anthony Jackson is a beast of a player and Horacio Hernandez is mind blowing. The energy these guys play with is astounding. The music has so much forward motion it is just ridiculous. Listen here. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nLdKObM2OJ8

3. Snarky Puppy - Lingus. Great band flying the flag for fusion music. They are really popular with the young players today and for good reason. The band is tight. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L_XJ_s5IsQc

4. Wes Montgomery - Round Midnight. I really don't need to say anything about this. Wes is a big inspiration for me. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOm17yw__6U

5. Herbie Hancock - Headhunters 1974. This was pioneering work at the time. Some hate it, I love it. It is fresh still to this day and these guys are going for it. This is not just one tune but a whole concert. I got to play a concert a few years ago with Benie Maupin from this group. It was incredible. You could feel the mans energy in the air; I would imagine thats what Miles Davis' vibe was like. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAlejqkd-gg

 There is a wealth of practise inspiration, information and general musicianship in these tunes. Give them a good listen and see what happens.

 If people have suggestions of tunes they find inspire them to practise leave a comment below. Let me know why you find it inspiring too.

Keep in touch:

Website: www.nickgranville.com

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/user/nickgranny

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/nickgranvillemusic

... and you can download my latest album for free if you want from:  nickgranville.bandcamp.com/album/home

There is no denying it - we are all influenced by others. Deciding upon your BIG THREE.

When considering the playing of any of the great musicians it becomes apparent that everyone is influenced by someone else in someway or another. All of the great players share this; no one is a total original. If they were it would be so weird to listen to that few would find it appealing.

Wes Montgomery is a good example, he was influenced heavily by Charlie Christian. I believe one of Montgomery's first regular gig's was performing a tribute of some sort to Christian. He had to sound as close as possible to his hero and was paid for it! George Benson was influenced by Wes Montgomery in a big way ... and one of Pat Metheny's key influences is Jim Hall. You can clearly hear it in Pat's sound and his approach (which is a vertical approach: see my YouTube video where I discuss working on a vertical approach using the minor pentatonic scale - click here). Yet clearly Pat has his own sound. 

I advise my students to choose three players to study and to make these people their focus. I call them the big three. To start you should consider learning these people's style, their choice of notes, their phrasing, how to recreate their tone and their time feel. At the end of the day, no matter how hard you try to sound exactly like someone else, you will never achieve it, but it does not matter. The goal is to absorb then to come up with your own sound based on a deep understanding of what came before you. As the saying goes - imitate, assimilate, innovate.

I would advise you go to the source. If for example you wanted to sound like George Benson then it would be a good idea to check out Charlie Christian. Remember, the people on your list do not have to be guitar players, although this makes it easier to directly use anything that you transcribe (knowing it will work on your instrument). Besides, if you play the guitar it is probable that you do so because you love the instrument. 

Now that you have decided on your big three it does not mean these are set in stone. This list will likely change over time but the important thing is to get started. Try to learn everything you can about these people. Some important things aspects to consider could be:

Their playing characteristics? 
What instrument / amps and effects they use?
Who are their key influences?
What makes them special?
What are the tunes they play regularly?
What is it you can borrow from them?
Are they still around to get lessons with?
What is their background? 
What is the album the everyone raves about?
What can you think of?

Keep in touch:

YouTube - https://www.youtube.com/user/nickgranny

Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/nickgranvillemusic

... and you can download my latest album from:  nickgranville.bandcamp.com/album/home