The best that any musician can offer is based on how much practice is put in. That's it! If you're a musician who spends a half hour to an hour each day practicing -there isn't much more you can do. I get it... It's a slow and steady pace of putting time into the time-bank each day to achieve greatness on your instrument. Some people practice more -but my opinion is that if regular rehearsal levels reach much more than 3 hours a day (non-stop), it's becoming an unhealthy and unsustainable obsession.
So, you've been practicing regularly and playing a show every now and then for just over a year. Your practice times are resulting in cleaner sounding passages and sheer speed (3 months ago you could only play the passage at 65BPM, and now you are at 120BPM (That's almost double your starting speed)! It sounds to me like you're operating to your fullest capacity as a musician!
My question to you is: Are you satisfied?
If your answer is "no"... My followup question is: WHY?!
You're operating at your fullest potential and you're still not satisfied? Let's break that down... It's important to have vision (like we've talked about in the past)... but it's also important to be realistic! If you're giving it all you've got -what more do you have to give?! If you're one year into playing and don't have the chops of Steve Vai -that might be a little unrealistic... Cut yourself some slack! If you've been diligently playing for 25 years and don't have the chops of Eddie Van Halen -neither do most serious guitarists -and that's okay! Stop fixating on being somebody else! Your goal shouldn't be to be a carbon-copy of one of your influences... but to sound as much like YOU as is possible. Trust me when I say that your capacity for musicality will grow over time, but unfortunately, it's not always in the way of sheer speed -and again... that's okay!
Some of my favorite after-show comments I've heard from musicians are keen hip-pocket responses to compliments that sound like: "I'm not that good", "Nah, I really suck", or "Thanks, but I'm nowhere near as good as ______"
My response is usually (verbatim): "Wow! My mistake -I guess you really do suck!"
***Awkward Pause***
and then... ***Laughter on both sides***
I digress... It's obviously a tongue-in-cheek response to say "Wow, I guess you're right -you really do suck!" -and it does a number on breaking the ice. We have a laugh, and then we have a conversation. Often it revolves around the musician chasing an unattainable dream to sound exactly like something they've constructed in their head. Sometimes, it's to be better than _______, other times it's to be the greatest player around, and sometimes it's to be able to play the guitar just like _______.
When I go to the length to audibly express how much I enjoyed a musician's playing, it's because it sounded like something original to me -or something surprised me in the music. When a compliment is deflected by one of those hip-pocket responses, it's pretty much telling me (or whoever is fond of your skill) "You're stupid -and I wish my fans had better taste in music" -it also sounds like you might be doing a little fishing for additional compliments... which is never an appealing trait. Is that really the message you want to be sending?! Remember, a simple "Thank You" will always suffice!
GUITARISTS: I'll try to level with you... Lots of people have spent countless hours learning how to play countless covers of songs. If you've ever watched tutorials on YouTube, you've probably found that everybody's interpretation (even if they hit the same notes and rhythms) are a little different. Sometimes, it's something as blatant as tone. Other times it's pick-attack. Some people use a whammy bar -others use vibrato with their left hand (I *primally* grab the bridge with my right hand and bend things). Everybody's approach to the instrument is a little different. There's a lot to learn from, but don't let your self worth come from learning somebody else's songs! You're worth more than that! My challenge to you: Once you've got the song comfortably covered, make a quick video of the cover (Beginning to end) and then play it back to back with the original. NOTICE THE NUANCES AND DIFFERENCES!!! These nuances are NOT necessarily a bad thing (I'm not talking about sour notes, but rather differences in pick-attack, harmonic use, vibrato location, and musical phrasing), but are probably part of your personal playing style! It's something to embrace! Remember SELF AWARENESS IS A POWERFUL THING!!!
***Climbs onto soapbox*** SINGERS: STOP DOING IMPRESSIONS OF POP AND COUNTRY ARTISTS!!! This is what EVERY pretentious karaoke singer has in common! I get particularly frustrated by singers who have found a "nice" but carbon-copy sound that they've spent their time trying to replicate versus using their talents to tap into "their sound". Granted, sometimes the impression is really good -and sometimes flawless... but I don't care. I don't care if they sound exactly like Miranda Lambert, Ed Sheeran, Adele, Luciano Pavarotti, Michael Bublé, or Whitney Houston -If it's an attempt at a carbon-copy I'm. just. not. interested. or. impressed. I didn't used to consider myself to be a singer (I'd sing for fun and out of necessity to give life to the songs I wrote), but then I took about 6 months of vocal lessons, and my teacher (Leah Kolar -who is a LEGEND) taught me to take steps closer to finding my own voice. I highly recommend taking a few months of classical vocal lessons to get an objective sounding board on what you can do to find YOUR SOUND as a vocalist. It'll make a world of difference and you'll find that your voice becomes exponentially more powerful when you are singing as YOU and not doing an impression of another artist! ***Climbs off of soapbox*** ... I guess now you guys know why I'm not a fan of American Idol, The Voice, America's Got Talent, etc...
So, now what?! You're practicing daily and performing every now and then... What's next? Well, If you're operating at your fullest capacity -chances are good that you've started developing your own sound already. HOOOOOORAY!!! That's right! YOU! You have your own sound when you sing/play! Nobody else sounds exactly like you! That's pretty incredible if you ask me! Stop holding yourself hostage for "not being good enough"! You're doing your best -and this should allow you some freedom in learning covers of songs (Now you CAN and SHOULD put your own spin on it). NOTE: If you start writing your own songs, you'll definitely become more acquainted with what YOUR SOUND sounds like -and please, I'd love to hear some of your work -send it my way (or post links in the comments)!
TLDR? Here are the key objective steps to finding YOUR SOUND:
GUITARISTS: Learn cover songs beginning to end and then play them back to back with the original -notice and embrace the nuances... They are traces of YOUR SOUND! Embrace it!
SINGERS: Take a few months of serious classical vocal lessons to work towards finding YOUR SOUND! If you're voice is powerful enough to sing an Adele impression now, it'll be even more powerful when you tap into YOUR VOICE.
EVERYBODY: If you start writing your own songs, you'll definitely become more acquainted with what YOUR SOUND sounds like. It won't be very comfortable at first but with time and practice, you'll learn to embrace it!
Until next time,
-T.