For Artists: How Did You Discover Your Musical Style?
 

Hello everyone, it's been sometime since I have considered making this post. Out of frustration and my interest in fellow artists creativity, I am finally going to make this post.

I need some advice in the direction I should take in my musical career or how I can find the right direction.
Currently I have already gone through several different stages as far as my music and writing are concerned. I began attempting
a Patti Smith/Jim Morrison style of writing, which evolved into a more pop-based Morrissey style of writing. Then when I was 19,
I had an obsession with Bowie and anything glam rock. The one genre that always seems to hang over my head is dance/pop.
I suppose that would be the best direction for myself, since I have a natural dancer's instinct when it comes to rhythmic music. However,
I love electric guitars, metal riffs, and the style and swagger of rock stars.

How did you choose your style? Did it take you time or was it an instant desicion? When you found your style did you
just know that is was the right choice for you?

What have your experiences been as a musician that helped you improve and find your direction?

For me, I always had the "idea" that I'd go a specific direction with music, but things tended to change along the way and different things inspired and motivated me, which always altered my focus in some way. I think the journey itself is the defining factor. As a musician, you're always evolving and changing... hopefully anyway... but I don't think the idea is to find a snapshot of a certain point in your evolution and say "Ah, that's where I'll stop!". At least not for the musician anyway.
I think it's important to just go with what you feel and let that lead you without ever really deciding where you're going. Unless you're trying to appeal to a niche or a market, then there isn't any reason to.

I think your direction is just whatever road you take and what you create along the way. It just turns out better when you don't go by some kind of plan, and you just do it from the heart. Everything else will fall into place after that.

i started out wanting to be a pop/rock musician (i was 12), this is the time i began singing and started to write lyrics (most of them were terrible and weird)

then i wanted an indie rock musician like Conor Oberst after discovering the song "Hot Knives" (i was about 13) i started to learn guitar

then i became a weird extremely experimental musician when i first discovered GarageBand examples:


then i decided to become a folk muscian (i was either late 13 early 14) well to be truthful the folk influence existed for a long-time but it was never as obvious till now

somewhere along the way i wanted to make electronica music i just discovered dntel, figurine, the postal service, etc... i created my experimental electronica project Earthly Kingdoms

I finally realized what my style was just about 8 monthes ago i am Folktronica, i mixed my electronica influences with my folk influences, added a drop of pop/rock influence, and a sprinkle of my own weirdness and created Stone Birds (that moniker existed a few years before that but this is when i chose my official styles.


today i am a folktronica musician, who tries to genre cross every song (i even have a folk hip-hop song called "Flurry" you can hear it on my myspace) i've tried to incorporate every genre i'm even planning on putting a short rap in one of my songs.

Stone Birds on MySpace Music - Free Streaming MP3s, Pictures & Music Downloads
Stone Birds – Free listening, videos, concerts, stats, & pictures at Last.fm
Earthly Kingdoms – Free listening, concerts, stats, & pictures at Last.fm

i discovered MY musical style when i stopped giving a crap about how and what my 'influences' did only to inadvertently try copying them.

to say you're not influenced by other music than your own is a lie

true, but to simply copy another musician (or their style) under the guise of influence is little more than mimicry.

if you want to follow another person's footsteps that's your prerogative and more power to you. it stopped being 'my' thing years ago, around the time i stopped having the opportunity to keep obsessing on what my 'influences' were doing and how they were handling their music.

you heard my music, how much of it sounds like the Jimi Hendrix Experience, old school RHCP or QOTSA?

don't call me a liar because i've grown away from my influences and recognized that change as the origin of my own personal style.

great question.

I started out liking driving guitar rock because of where I lived and my priorities as a young man. I never liked metal though, because I couldn't understand what they were saying, and they just seemed pissed off.

I began liking hip hop and Reggae because of the forceful bottom end and how it made me want to dance.

I began to like the winding hippie rock guitars and tambourine type sounds and percission as I discovered those influences on not only my musical taste but my thought process.

I found myself wishing I could combine the rhythm section of hip hop/reggae/percussion music for the danceability with the winding spanish or rock guitar for the mind teasing with the meaningful lyrics and I decided the closest thing was soul music. So I started a soul band. The horns in soul make a difinitive point when it is needed. bop bop!

And as we selected songs, it turns out the ones that matched what I thought I liked best were funk songs. As soon as I started playing funk (I am drummer), it semed like everything I played would start transforming into funk.

Ottis Redding hard to handle?- funk
Tracy Chapman gimme one reason?-funk
Dusty Springfield son of a preacher man?- funk

So it turns out I love funk, even though I don't listen to funk that much. The funk era was kind of a mindless drug era. Thats ok, but funk allows the combinations of thick rhythm section, trippy guitars, spiritual feeling organs, zippy/zesty horns, and meaningful lyrics. Thats why I like it. When I hear my favorite songs from other genres, they transform into funk in my mind, even though I don't listen to funk much.

The songs I write are almost all funk, more or less, no mater what the topic.

I just play for myself, so I'm not sure if I consider myself an "artist"...but I do feel I have my own style after playing for a few years. I focus almost exclusively (as in I don't really play lead) on chord progression and everything implied in that. I am a sucker for a weird chord or something played just a bit differently. Throw in some effects and it gets even better. I get really self conscious in my ability sometimes, but occasionally I hang out with someone who can shred and they can't play the patterns I come up with...that always makes me happy. Basically, if I was in a band and I had full control I would be making a weird blend of guitar based shoegaze electronica.

My style constantly evolves with my mood, environment, what I'm listening to the most of at the time, and my improving technical ability. Just play what comes to you and don't worry about it too much. It's too easy to compare yourself to your favorite bands and even though you may be inspired by them, you won't ever come close to them. The way I try to think of it is, maybe a lot of my favorite artists didn't want to make music the way they did. Maybe Jimi Hendrix really wanted to play Bhangra...he just happened to be great at guitar and expressed himself best with that. Who knows.

does my music sound exactly like bright eyes, iron & wine, bon iver, or dntel, no... so don't judge me when you don't even know

look. you basically went from going - i listened to this guy then i wanted to play that style until i heard that guy and then i wanted to do his other style instead rinse and repeat.

and that's fine.

then i came along and said i found my voice when i stopped doing similar things and you took it defensively and called me a liar. when did i say i was devoid of influence? the question was HOW did you discover your musical style? MINE came from doing something that apparently runs counter to your method. :eek: truth.



so which one of us doesn't know again... ?

Personal Style
 

i just put my ear to the ground, heard what the streets was sayin' and what them dudes on the block needed and i just started making bomb **** you feel me?

You're overthinking it. Just go and write music you like. Stop trying to pigeonhole yourself.

No, really, stop it. Its stupid. Go and write music that you like and would want to listen to. If you want to write in a hundred different styles in the same song or album nobody is stopping you.

Also, nobody wants to hear a repeat of something someone else already wrote. Why would you consciously pattern your music after someone else?


Edit: didn't realise this was a thread necro.

Personally, I make music based on the genre I really like. Acoustic being one of them. Just the spund of an acoustic guitar on it's own brings a lot of satisfaction regardless of my mood. I also use the making of music to keep me occupied.

As for finding what you want to do, just find artists that you really enjoy, and allow them to be an influence in your creations. It doesn't have to match other artist's sounds but experimenting with sound in a genre that you like is still a good experience.

yuup

I feel like you should just play whatever you feel like. Putting yourself in a box by predetermining what style you should play is a pretty dumb idea. Just make sounds you enjoy.