i'm two different people musically.

[rich2k4]

i like a lot of the acoustic singer/songwriter stuff, yet i also love classic/hard rock.

on acoustic i play a lot of the dave matthews, paul simon, etc stuff

but on electric i do a lot of led zeppelin, judas priest, etc

if i focus on one of the styles i neglect the other, and if i try to split between both i find it hard to make it work, because i end up going back to focusing on 1 more then the other.

i don't really know what to do. Plus the stuff i like singing is the soul, marvin gaye, donny hathaway stuff. so that is also different.

now that i think about it, it's not really two people, it's more like three.

i need to figure out how i can combine all three, or at least satisfy all three.

i do play a lot of soul music on acoustic so i guess that combines two right there.

anyone else ever have this problem? liking two completely different styles so much that you can't ever just focus on one? then you end up being ok at either but not really good at anything.

[p.j.]

i like a lot of the acoustic singer/songwriter stuff, yet i also love classic/hard rock.

on acoustic i play a lot of the dave matthews, paul simon, etc stuff

but on electric i do a lot of led zeppelin, judas priest, etc

if i focus on one of the styles i neglect the other, and if i try to split between both i find it hard to make it work, because i end up going back to focusing on 1 more then the other.

i don't really know what to do. Plus the stuff i like singing is the soul, marvin gaye, donny hathaway stuff. so that is also different.

now that i think about it, it's not really two people, it's more like three.

i need to figure out how i can combine all three, or at least satisfy all three.

i do play a lot of soul music on acoustic so i guess that combines two right there.

anyone else ever have this problem? liking two completely different styles so much that you can't ever just focus on one? then you end up being ok at either but not really good at anything.

I have always listened to and enjoyed a diverse range of music and it all comes out in my playing. I don't think having different influences is a bad thing. Lots of my favorite players - Nels Cline, Bill Frisell, John Abercrombie, Terje Rypdal, Danny Gatton - are all over the place stylistically. I don't think musically you need to be in one genre or another as long as you enjoy what you are doing and it makes some kind of musical sense.

I remember reading a cool article on film composer, multi-instrumentalist Jon Brion who said that he utilized country multi-string bends with fuzz and came up with a style that was pretty unique. Being open to and combining multiple influences is a good way to come up with something new.

Good luck!
PJ

[willemhdb]

I'm like this, too. I play completely different stuff on the acoustic than I do on the electric. My musical tastes range from classical, to jazz, to rock, to metal, to pop. And I play all of it.

I thought this was a problem, too. But then I realised there is no need to try to reconcile the styles, and that you don't have to be mediocre in any of them. In fact, what you learn from one style, can usually be applied to another in a sort of cross-over fashion.

Willem
http://www.theloneguitaristblog.com

[Birddog]

I don't think your tastes make you very uncommon. I am working in an acoustic duo right now, and loving it. Also a fan of 80's hair band music, jazz, older rock, newer rock.....

I find things I like in all genres, and try to apply them across the board to my playing. It makes me richer (if not better, lol) as a musician.

[Flyin' Brian]

I don't see any problem.

I just put my iTunes on shuffle and came up with The Allman Brothers, Quincy Jones, Chet Atkins, Chris Rea, Percy Mayfield, Bob Marley, The 3 Tenors and John Scofield. I like playing what I listen to, and when I play one genre, the others don't suffer. Since they've sort of blended together over the years, it's probably created my own style.

Like I said, no problem.

[docbop]

As said by many legends copy everyone you can then forget it all and play. That will apply to writing as well. Learn songs and then let original go and let it come out your way. We're all a collection of all the things we've heard over our lives.

[Charlie_Pace]

I got music schizo too:

Metalhead

Acoustish

Super Pop

Jazz

Funk

Ambient

[splatt]

i also don't see it as a problem,
though i do understand the potential struggle embedded in a personal need for integration;
the pursuit of that integration,
as a single, idiosyncratically characteristic & recognisable (to me) thing,
has probably been the continuous theme of my entire musical life,
as well as that of the somewhat odd musical career which accompanies it.

my own efforts have been direct, and through a willful sort of denial:
i concentrate enough to allow for all of my most innocent
(meaning: sincerely felt) musical directions
into whatever music i'm composing/playing/producing,
so long as it feels right in application..... even when that takes work.

it doesn't matter to me, in some ill way, maybe,
whether w/jan garbarek, david bowie, john legend,
sakamoto, laurie anderson, tori amos, etc,
or composing for films,
where the musical idiomaticisms, functions & stylistic restrictions are sooooo different,
or for my own self-driven material for release,
etc.....
it takes an effort for this self-integration of broad musical predilections to actually flow,
and seems to take some real & consistent vigilance in order to "let it happen".
it can be dangerous, i think --- i make mistakes, sometimes, of course;
sometimes (musically) bad ones, imo.
but.....
it's been well worth the effort.
in every way.

practise makes "perfect", somehow..... though there is no end
to the mercurial & constant self-definition of so-called "perfection".
steady on, i say.

dt / spltrcl

ps:
the above is probably (kinda) broadly "philosophical", i guess;
but, since this is my real life,
i might maybe be able to provide some real-life examples,
if you think that might provide any value, rich;
though, any question would need to point to some specific conundrum.....

[Bryan T]

Having multiple musical personalities is a good thing. I'll work on music in one direction for a time and then work on something completely different for a time. The end result is that I'm usually inspired to work on something. Moreover, there is some unexpected influencing that happens.

Embrace it!

[SteveStevens]

i also don't see it as a problem,
though i do understand the potential struggle embedded in a personal need for integration;
the pursuit of that integration,
as a single, idiosyncratically characteristic & recognisable (to me) thing,
has probably been the continuous theme of my entire musical life,
as well as that of the somewhat odd musical career which accompanies it.

my own efforts have been direct, and through a willful sort of denial:
i concentrate enough to allow for all of my most innocent
(meaning: sincerely felt) musical directions
into whatever music i'm composing/playing/producing,
so long as it feels right in application..... even when that takes work.

it doesn't matter to me, in some ill way, maybe,
whether w/jan garbarek, david bowie, john legend,
sakamoto, laurie anderson, tori amos, etc,
or composing for films,
where the musical idiomaticisms, functions & stylistic restrictions are sooooo different,
or for my own self-driven material for release,
etc.....
it takes an effort for this self-integration of broad musical predilections to actually flow,
and seems to take some real & consistent vigilance in order to "let it happen".
it can be dangerous, i think --- i make mistakes, sometimes, of course;
sometimes (musically) bad ones, imo.
but.....
it's been well worth the effort.
in every way.

practise makes "perfect", somehow..... though there is no end
to the mercurial & constant self-definition of so-called "perfection".
steady on, i say.

dt / spltrcl

ps:
the above is probably (kinda) broadly "philosophical", i guess;
but, since this is my real life,
i might maybe be able to provide some real-life examples,
if you think that might provide any value, rich;
though, any question would need to point to some specific conundrum.....


Due to Facebook conditioning, I found myself trying to click the "like" button for this post. To no avail. Like.

[kludge]

By this, I'm about 50 people musically.

[gtrnstuff]

Yeah, I was gonna say, Wow, you got it down to three?!!

I deal with it by being a sideman/session chameleon. Over the years I have gotten to do most things I ever liked, some things I was pretty good at, and even some things I don't think I'm all that good at but got the gig anyway.

[mike walker]

it can be dangerous, i think --- i make mistakes, sometimes, of course;
sometimes (musically) bad ones, imo.
but.....
it's been well worth the effort.
in every way.
[/SIZE]

I have lived this all my musical life. Because i improvise in whatever genre i'm in. Always loved music in all its affairs. So i court danger....and often fall.

But i so feel dt's sentiments here.... 'in every way'.

[Clifford-D]

You think you got it bad,
I'm a hippie with little hair, I have a jazz mentality and I live in a world full of blues players that don't know squat but can play their asses off.

:hide2


I was told once to click my heels together three times,,,

[DrSax]

From an artistic point of view, the more "people" you are the merrier, I say. However, from a sheer practical, practicing regimen point-of-view, I've had lots of trouble with this as well.

The time I would need to really get good at certain styles I want to play would mean I would have to neglect others, it's just a fact. So decisions must be made, and I'm never sure I'm making the right ones.

[splatt]

From an artistic point of view, the more "people" you are the merrier, I say. However, from a sheer practical, practicing regimen point-of-view, I've had lots of trouble with this as well.
well..... we do hafta make decisions, continuously & always,
about what, precisely, we choose to focus our extremely limited time upon.

The time I would need to really get good at certain styles I want to play would mean I would have to neglect others, it's just a fact. So decisions must be made, and I'm never sure I'm making the right ones.
this can be viewed awfully positively, though, eh?
just learn one thing/element/concept that you like about that style,
and learn it well enough to allow it to fully integrate with your own style;
eventually, you might be able to have that stylistic element/concept seamlessly incorporated it into whatever-it-is you're doing.....
where+when you deem it suitable & applicable:
integration.
this might even be seen as an occasional rung on the systaltic step-ladder
to developing a truly personal style, maybe.
i dunno.
maybe you even do that, already.

dt / spltrcl

[J.T.]

‎"I am a part of all that I have met." ~Alfred Lord Tennyson

[gtrnstuff]

well..... we do hafta make decisions, continuously & always,
about what, precisely, we choose to focus our extremely limited time upon.


this can be viewed awfully positively, though, eh?
just learn one thing/element/concept that you like about that style,
and learn it well enough to allow it to fully integrate with your own style;
eventually, you might be able to have that stylistic element/concept seamlessly incorporated it into whatever-it-is you're doing.....
where+when you deem it suitable & applicable:
integration.
this might even be seen as an occasional rung on the systaltic step-ladder
to developing a truly personal style, maybe.
i dunno.
maybe you even do that, already.

dt / spltrcl

I think splatt is onto something (my understatement du jour)

[cram]

‎"I am a part of all that I have met." ~Alfred Lord Tennyson

This.

And it should be viewed as one's strength.

[Dickie Fredericks]

There is no problem here. Nothing to see folks hehe.

Rich, you are not sacrificing one for the other or even the other. Rght now you're working on / diggin tunes by other people. Eventually, they will all become one and musically, make you, YOU.

Who here doesnt like many styles and bands? I know I do. Variety is awesome and shows how much can be accomplished with just a few notes, strings, chords etc...

Embrace the diversity. Its going to pay off in the long run.