The musical influences in my life are scattered all over the map, and to try and pin down what the sum of them would look like would be virtually impossible to put into words. In fact, as I have been peeling away the layers of my long stagnant musical self, I am discovering so many things that were always floating around me, yet unnoticed, and at the same time realizing that I have never really discovered and polished my musical identity. Never gave it the depth of care and nurturing that it deserves, even demands of me. I have always focused my energy on the technical side of my musicianship to the point that I have neglected to realize that each musician has a musical personality, a style, a tone.
Watching a video recently of one of the greatest influences on my guitar technique, the concept of each person having their own individual tone that is heard through the instrument, regardless of the make or model, or the gear that the instrument is being played through. It is a truth that all creative expression starts from within, and then flows out through the fingers upon the fretboard (in this case). The size, the physical texture and composition of the fingers alone play a role in expressing one's tone, let alone the ability of the musician, by way of talent and practice, to automate that expression by manipulating the strings of the instrument. These characteristics are a tiny example of the nuances and subtleties that contribute to the creation of tone.
As in any art form, it is in the detail of the expression, that which is almost always unnoticed or even known to exist to those who listen, that lies the colors of the tone which the artist layers into sound, painting the picture that is the composition. That video shot me back to my days studying cello. My cello teacher was one of the greatest influences on my musical development. He would have me find one--one note--and meditate on it. At first, without even sounding it--simply focusing on the feel of the string at the position where that note is played; then with the stroke of the bow, concentrating on the tone, the feel and the mental picture of that one note as it's being played. This not only creates an indelible imprint of the note itself, yet exercises the musical muscles that are needed to draw from the deep wells of the musical soul and transform the indescribable into expressive musical color.
The other major influence was my guitar teacher, who knows better than just about anyone about this truth. (Incidentally, he introduced me to the work of Steve Vai, before anyone knew who he was...) He, too, had me focusing on the individual notes, honing the craft of expressing each individual note with care and fidelity. I have been taught this; I have known of the significance of this, yet it is only now that I am really getting it. It is now, as I crawl out from under the rock that I have been living under, that I am stepping back to the beginning, the fundamentals, to develop and discover that basic building block of musical expression that is heard in one's own individual tone.
